


The Arc House

by Six02



Category: RWBY
Genre: As are Ciel, F/F, F/M, Faunus Pyrrha, I was going to hide the relatonship tags but we all know I'm going to have arkos, May Zedong - Freeform, Other, Pyrrha is Lionness, Ruby Rose-Arc, Ruby is an Arc, Summer's alive because she pulled away from Ozpin's group, There are lots of other relationships and ones that'll throw you off, They're all lionesses, and Reese Chloris, arkos, sibling care
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27767485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Six02/pseuds/Six02
Summary: What if during Tai's flirtations with Raven, another Blonde doofus came into Summer's life?  What if that lead her down a different path, and she ended up having eight children?  This is the story of that possibility and many other differences.
Relationships: Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos
Comments: 21
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo I promise I'm not abandoning the other works, I just kind of have to get this one out of my head. This one will have a lot of my focus, and I'll of course be updating Lil JNPR as well Promise!
> 
> I'm debating on putting this one as Explicit since there will/may be side chapters both canon and non canon to the story. 
> 
> The main eight will get focus, but it'll mostly be Pyrrha, Ruby, Joan, and Jaune who get the most POV focus.  
> Any who hope you enjoy!

Ruby was panicking, she hadn’t expected for this to happen! She was just reading a magazine at one of the small dust businesses in Vale, when some clockwork orange looking guy walks in and tries to rob the place with his goons. Next thing she knew, she was sitting down in front of the headmaster of Beacon. He mentioned something about her eyes, and somehow knew her mom, who by the way hadn’t said anything about knowing the headmaster of Beacon before. 

He’d offered her a place, a way to help people sooner than she’d expected. She couldn’t miss this chance, otherwise she’d have to wait another two years, and that thought alone ate at her. Though, now that she was on her way to Beacon, she’d started regretting it, thoughts of having to compete with people older than her. Having to keep up with everyone was going to be tough, oh and the studying, she’d skipped two years of actual school work. She honestly didn’t know if she belonged or not, and that was eating away at her. But still, even when a part of her was being gnawed away she still yearned to help people and this was her ticket. 

After all her dad had filled her head with all kinds of expectations of what a hero was. He’d filled her head with stories and fantasies, and they brought about the possibilities of helping those that needed them. But before he could really bury the fantasy into her skull, her mom had tempered them, she’d explained that the world was a difficult place. She told her that sometimes she’d have to make hard choices, choices she may regret later. But at the same time, both of them filled her with confidence, that no matter what happened she’d still get to live her life, she’d get to choose what she wanted to do. She wasn’t sure if she was ready, but here she was, and she was going to tackle it to the best of her ability.

Her parents had talked to her, pulled her aside to make sure that this was what she really wanted. And despite her hesitations she had chosen to come, that she wanted to do this. Honestly though? If she had been by herself she didn’t think she’d stand a chance, though that was as long as she alone, thankfully she wasn’t. Even still Ruby couldn’t contain her anxieties, her heart beating a million miles per hour.

The unsteady movement of the bullhead hadn’t been helping. She’d already taken her motion sickness medicine, but her anxiety had amplified the symptoms.

Before she could enter a full on panic attack however, a large hand was played on her shoulder. Her eyes gazed upwards, it was her older sister. Ruby always admired her, she had been one of the most important figures in her life growing up, and she aspired to be just like her. Though, she wasn’t book smart like her, so she didn’t think that’d be possible. 

“Ruby…” Her sister’s voice was soothing, calm and motherly. “Everything’s going to be okay. I’m going to be with you, you have nothing to worry about. You’re the bee’s knees after all.” Her smile was heartwarming and helped soothe her nerves, even just a little. Then she paused, “Ugh, I’m never quoting dad again.”

Ruby nodded, “I know… it’s… it’s just that I’m younger than everyone else. What if people look at me funny? I just want to be normal, with Normal knees!” Her panic was happening again, she needed to breathe or she’d end up losing control. 

Noticing her anxieties her sister wrapped her in a tight and firm hug. She pulled Ruby close, tightening her hold as the airship rocked back and forth against the turbulence. Ruby felt her heartbeat slow, she felt warmth overtake her and soon she returned the hug. Her eyes glanced towards her elder sister, noting her bright blonde hair. She couldn’t help but feel safe, like everything was going to be okay.

“You are a normal girl Ruby. Just because you got moved up a few years doesn’t mean anything, it’s going to be hard, sure, but I’m here for you.” There was a pause as Ruby sniffled slightly, and nuzzled against the crook of her sister’s neck. “Besides, it’s not just me, the big doofus is here too remember?” 

Ruby couldn’t hold back any longer, giggles began to escape her lips as she reflected on her sister’s words. “You’re right, you’re right!” She paused after realizing someone was missing. “Speaking of our big doofus…” Her elder sister released her from her grip, enough to let her look around. “Where is he?” Both sisters began to scan the crowd until their desired target came forward. 

A tall young blonde man made his way towards them and chuckled softly, his right hand scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry bout that you two, I took the medicine, but my nerves are still getting to me. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t throw up on anyone's shoes.” Albeit nervous, his face beamed with a powerful smile as he stared upon the two women in front of him. Ruby relaxed, at least she wasn’t the only one with butterflies in their tummy.

“Well it’s a good thing I remembered to bring all of ours then. It would have been a disaster if I had left it up to you two.” The taller girl stated, soon their attention was brought to the incoming school in front of them. It was Beacon academy, the start of their new lives. 

These three individuals were the middle Arc Siblings, Ruby Rose-Arc, the 4th Arc Daughter, as well as the 5th Arc Child. She was of small stature, her hair was dark black with red tips. Her eyes, unique to her and her mother, were a bright glistening silver. Her clothes were simplistic, she wore black combat boots into black tights. She wore a black and red trimmed skirt, her upper body was covered by a silly black and red Pumpkin Pete hoodie which had been modified by their mother to include a cloak, lined with kevlar, a flaming Rose standing atop two upside down golden crescents was stitched onto it. Underneath and hidden by the hoodie, she wore a kevlar vest, their mother had insisted they all wear one as well as combat boots, no heels in her house, thank the brothers. Their father had insisted on Ruby carrying the Rose last name, when he realized how much he looked like her mother. On her back was a simple pole looking object, which looked as if it could extend.

The next youngest of the trio was one Joan Arc, the Third Arc Daughter, as well as the 4th eldest Arc Child. She stood heads above Ruby, the tip of Ruby’s head only came up to Joan’s shoulder. Her hair was cut short much like Jaune and Ruby’s, only reaching just below her ear. Wheat colored, which flowed into a burning red color, inherited from her mother. She had a single strand of pure red hair which she had braided, it lay gently to the right side of her temple. She was the only other Arc to share this attribute with her mother and Ruby. Her eyes were however the same sapphire blue that the rest of the Arc Clan had. Her figure was impressive, wide shoulders and a strong neck, her jaw was defined and her head was shaped like a slightly wide reverse water drop. Her skin was pale, much like her other siblings. Like her sister she wore a hoodie, hers was black with purple outlines, the Arc symbol stitched on, she also wore kevlar underneath. She wore grey combat pants, much better for moving around in, as well as getting dirty. Like Ruby she also wore combat boots, again at the behest of their mother. On her back was a large metal bar, which seemed to be segmented into several pieces. 

Next came Jaune, the only male child of the Arc Family,a s well as the third eldest child in general. He was of course only a few minutes older than Joan, who matched his height exactly. There was a time in his life when he was on the noodly side, but his mother wouldn’t have any of her kids to be untrained, this was a dangerous world and everyone needed to be able to protect themselves. His hair was pulled back into a warrior's wolf tail, the sides of his head were shaved, and his sideburns were neatly trimmed. The top of his hair was pulled back and tied into a neat ponytail which puffed up a little bit. It took Saphron forever to make sure to get it right the first time. He wore matching clothes with Joan, though the difference was his hoodie had been modified. It lacked the hood portion and was instead cut around the neck and modified to be propped up and held together with a buckle. It hid his neck, Rouge had said it was fashionable and he believed her. The Arc symbol was emblazoned on the left side of the risten part. However, the differences continued, he wore a complete set of upper armor, a breast plate which covered from the bottom of his stomach to the beginning of his neck. Slick pauldrons, which covered his shoulders, which grew into long arm guards ending with gauntlets, that acted as fingerless gloves. He wore a small golden cloak, which he had taken inspiration, much like Ruby, from his mother. Though unlike her’s it was shorter, and it acted like a cape proper. On his waist a rather large, heavy looking segmented sheath which housed a rather fancy sword rested. 

The three Arc siblings created a rather imposing group as they stood together. Even Ruby in her diminutive stature. Speaking of which, “Why did I get mom’s everything?” She asked sullenly, Ruby was the shortest of all the Arc siblings, and she was sure the little ones would be passing her soon enough. 

Jaune chuckled nervously, “C’mon Ruby, it’s not that bad. You look just like mom, isn’t that a good thing?” Jaune had always idolized his parents, and his Mom was a huge inspiration to him growing up, so of course he’d think that, it didn’t really help Ruby though. She felt his arms wrap around her, “You’re beautiful just like mom. You should be proud okay?”

“Ya, what, you’re not embarrassed to look like mom right? What would she feel if she knew how her little rose felt!” Joan grinned, not one for dramatic actions; she looked at their little sister.

“What?! No! I never said that, I’m happy I look like mom. I just… I just wish I wasn’t so short. And… and I wish I looked more like you guys” The moment she finished that line of thought, she found herself being held by four arms. 

“Oh Ruby, like Jaune said you’re beautiful, you were graced with Mom’s looks. And besides, you’ll always be our sister, no matter how different we look.” Ruby felt Joan’s arms tighten around her. “And besides, at least red tips don’t look odd on darker hair. People always think I died mine on.” Ruby couldn’t help but chuckle at her sister's comments.

“Ya! Besides, you’ll grow, I promise, and look at it this way Saphron isn’t that tall either. If anything she really took after mom in the height department.” Ruby couldn’t help but agree, she was already catching up to their elder sister in the height department, that at least helped fill her with a sense of confidence.

“I know… but thank you both, I really mean it.” 

“Any time Rubes.” She smiled at Jaune’s warm response.

“Well, looks like we’re here. You two ready?” Joan had released both her siblings and stared outwards. “You guys ready? It’s time for us to enter a new chapter of our life.” 

Jaune and Ruby both nodded in confirmation as the door to the ship came open, this was going to be an interesting year.

“I don’t like this, I don’t know what he’s up to, but I know he’s up to something.” One Summer Rose-Arc paced back and forth, an invitation letter held firmly in her hand. “I don’t trust him Charles… I know he’s going to do something. I was already iffy about Jaune and Joan going, but he just calls up to tell me that Ruby is invited!?” Her voice began to grow higher in pitch as her concern began to increase. 

Though, once she found herself wrapped up in large arms, she began to breathe. Her dear husband always knew how to calm her down and she couldn't’ help but appreciate him for it. She returned the hug and pressed her head against his chest. “I know sweetheart I know.” He took a deep breath, they had been ready to decline, but when the saw how excited Ruby had been, they didn’t have the heart to stop her. “We’ll just have to trust that we raised her well, and that Joan and Jaune are there for her.” 

“Yes, yes you’re right. We raised our kids well, I’m sure they’ll do fine. And you’re right, she has both Jaune and Joan. They’d never abandon her, I know they’ll watch over here even if they end up on different teams.” She paused, pulling away from her husband, planting a kiss on the palm of his right hand. “The real question then, is what to do about this?” He stared at the letter held in her hand. It was an invitation, not for her kids but for her. 

Despite her initial reservations, Ruby was actually pretty excited to be here, she knew that so long as she had Jaune and Joan by her side anything was possible. Though, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes as the two of them began to argue, of course they’d start fighting now. It was definitely a twin thing, it had to be, no one else in their family argued as much as the two of them and it was always over something so dumb like now! They were fighting over if they were going to get lost or not.

Shaking her head Ruby began to walk backwards as her two siblings continued to fight, this proved to be a terrible mistake. 

“Ruby!” Before she could react to the twin’s exclamation she hit something and proceeded to trip backwards.

Oh no, she hit something, she now lay atop a pile of suitcases, who brought this much luggage?! 

“What do you think you’re doing?!” A shrill voice called out to her, like taking nails to a chalkboard, and she’d know! Rouge always did that to get their attention.

“I’m sorry!” She shrieked out in fear, her gaze then fell to her siblings, who had come over to her in concern, though the incredibly pale girl seemed to ignore them entirely. 

“Sorry?! Do you know what you were doing?! You knocked over all of my Dust! Do you know how dangerous that is you idiot?!” Wow, this girl was rude, oh… and now she was waiving around a bunch of fire dust at her. Oh no the lid was coming off! 

“Hey wait uh!” 

“NO! NO WAITING DO YOU KNOW HOW DA…” She was cut off when Joan and Jaune both got in front of Ruby, Joan had grabbed the white girls hand. Jaune making sure she was alright.

“Stop.” That’s all Joan said, but it was enough to silent the whitehaired girl. Oh god Joan was mad, she could feel her aura literally leaking out of her body, apparently the whitehaired girl did as well as she couldn’t take her eyes away from Joan. 

When the pale princess stopped moving Joan let go, “Okay good. My sister said she was sorry, it was an accident, one that was her fault. But you were doing something just as dangerous.” She pointed at the bottle cap, the pale girl’s eyes followed her finger and her face began to flush as she realized how close it was to popping open. 

“I… I see.” She tried to regain her composure, Jaune at this point had fully helped Ruby up, and had diligently begun to put the luggage together. Ruby on the other hand had been motioned towards Joan. “Well then… I’ll be going on my way!” Before anyone could get a word in edgewise she grabbed her cart and made her way away. Though Ruby thought she noticed a hint of red on her cheeks, it was different than the flushed embarrassment she had on earlier. 

“Wow, she didn’t even apologize, what a spoiled princess.” Joan was obviously frustrated, though she didn’t take her eyes off the girl, Ruby noticed Jaune doing the same. Following their vision she noticed they had been looking especially at her legs.

“Shame about her personality, she’s really pretty.” Both twins turned towards each other, and smirked. 

“You two are so weird… you also have really weird taste in people.” 

“What?! No that’s not true!” Oh god she didn’t need them talking in stereo, they had to get going!

“Okay okay I get it! Please don’t do that.” The smiles on their faces told her they’d continue, “Uh! We gotta go, we’re running out of time!”

“Oh CRAP!” Both twins looked at their scrolls realizing Ruby was right, and the three of them made a mad dash to their destination. At least that’s what they were supposed to do.

A few minutes later and they realized they weren’t getting anywhere. “Where are we going?!” 

Jaune stopped in his tracks, “What?! I was following you Ruby!” 

“But I was following Joan!” 

“Whoa now, don't blame me I was following Jaune!” The three siblings stopped, each letting out an exasperated sigh. 

Jaune spoke first, “We should probably go ask for help.” 

In agreement the three of them were finally able to find the auditorium.

Though, they had apparently missed the entirety of the headmaster's speech. But from the looks of the other applicants that wasn’t a huge deal, apparently he hadn’t exactly given anyone a boost of confidence.

Now they just had to hang around till it was time to sleep. This wasn’t something Ruby was looking forward to, she was introverted, sure she could hold a conversation but she never started them. It just wasn’t her and she wouldn’t start n… she paused. Her eyes glancing at a lone individual, hair of flames and eyes as green as emeralds, and a lioness tail wrapped around her waist. “Oh my god. Oh my god!” 

“Ruby what’s wro…” Jaune followed his little sisters eyes, but paused when he saw what was in the lowest possible description he could think of, an absolute goddess. He felt his face heat up, “Oh.” 

“Oh huh, it’s P…” Before Joan could comment she and Jaune were dragged along as Ruby sprinted to meet one of her idols.

“Ruby calm down!” Joan did her best to keep balance as the trio came to a sudden stop.

“Oh! Hello!” Joan turned to the one and only Pyrrha Nikos, if she had been surprised by the sudden intrusion Joan wouldn’t have guessed. Though, she knew Ruby, and she knew why she had dragged them along, this wouldn’t be good.

“Hiya! I’m Ruby! And this is Jaune, and Joan!” Ruby introduced herself, then her two siblings. Joan couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her sister's excitement.

“Hello, I’m Joan Arc, this one’s big sister.” She said pointing at Ruby, who was still beaming with Glee.

Jaune didn’t answer, he was still a bit star struck it seemed, though Joan couldn’t really blame him, Pyrrha Nikos was incredibly gorgeous.

Pyrrha was used to this, she really was, it didn't make it any easier. She had come to Beacon in hopes of getting away from her fame, in hopes of making friends, but even here it dragged her down. No one had approached her, afraid of her titles, and the only ones that did appeared to be avid fans, at least two of them were. Well appearances must be kept, “Hello I’m P…” She didn’t get to finish as the small one interrupted her.

“You’re the Pumpkin Pete’s Girl!!!!” Oh… Oh that’s not what she expected at all. Sure she had been known for being on that terrible cereal, but it’s not what she was most well known for. Then it hit her, all three of them, well she couldn’t really tell with the boy, but they were all wearing hoodies, pumpkin pete’s ones. 

“Oh… yes uhm, my Name is Pyrrha Nikos.” She waited, maybe hearing her name would jog their memories on other things, but none of them responded. The little one, Ruby was it? She was now looking at her, her eyes hadn’t changed from that adorable puppy dog stair she had given her earlier. The other girl, Joan, oh my she was actually taller than Pyrrha. Well she just looked at her with a cocked eyebrow, and as for the boy? He gave her the strangest look, one she’d seen on many fans, but this one was different? She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it wasn’t lecherous, instead it was almost shy. She watched as the taller girl elbowed the boy, Jaune, that was his name, yes.

Jaune snapped to attention when Joan had elbowed him, his attention still on Pyrrha? That was her name, it was really pretty just like her! Oh right, he wasn’t talking, he needed to say something to introduce himself. Uhm, what did his dad say before? Oh right women loved confidence, wait no, what did his mom always say about that? ‘Jaune, while that’s true, you need to be yourself.’ Right, right he didn’t need to fake confidence just be himself, right. “I uhm… Hi! I’m uh I’m Jaune Arc… it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He paused, his brain no longer working, “You’re really beautiful.” Oh… oh no that’s not what he meant to say! His face burned in embarrassment as he used his hands to hide his face, he just messed up!

Oh! Oh Pyrrha didn’t expect this at all, okay so she sort of expected the laughing in the background as the rather cute, no handsome, boy had introduced himself. She had learned people were mean, but well, she’d never been called beautiful before. At least not to her face, or not in a sleazy fashion. No his attempt, it was it was actually really endearing. She felt her face redden a little. Her attention snapped to the elder sister, who had begun to chuckle, though not for the same reason the other students had started to laugh. She was looking at Pyrrha, and then back at her brother, oh no. Right, time to get things under control. “Thank you.” 

She felt it polite to thank him, especially because she was thankful, it felt nice. “Uhm, it’s a pleasure to meet you three… do uh… do you not know who I am?” She hoped they didn’t, though Ruby obviously did, but for a different reason.

“You’re the Pumpkin Pete girl! I already said that!” Okay, so Ruby didn’t.

Jaune didn’t verbally answer, instead he just shook his head, his hands still covering his face.

Joan did respond though, “I do. I’ve been following the fighting scenes. And since we’re from Mistral ourselves, I’ve had my eye on you for a while Pyrrha.” The tone, Pyrrha recognized it, but it’d been so long since she heard it. She was slightly threatening, but not in a way she'd try to kill Pyrrha kind of way. No this lit a flame in Pyrrha.

“Oh? And I suppose you’d like a chance to take me on then?” Oh wow, Pyrrha didn’t know where that came from, but it’d been so long since she’d had someone outright oppose her! 

“Oh most definitely! Though… I’ve seen ya fight, I’m not stupid, I doubt I’d win.” Oh, that didn’t make Pyrrha feel any better, “but I’m still going to be gunning at you! Won’t be long before I knock you down.” Pyrrha watched as Joan grinned, one oozing with confidence. Okay, no this was much better than she thought.

“Oh! That sounds grand! I would love to challenge you in the future!” This was most definitely excellent, maybe she wouldn’t be so lonely. Her eyes hovered back to Jaune, who was still doing his best impression of a turtle, oh my he was rather adorable. 

“Wait.” He came out of his shell, “Uhm… why do you both know her?” Oh! Well now.

Both Arc Sisters turned to Jaune, “Seriously?! Jaune she’s in front of the pumpkin pete’s boxes! You turned in 150 box tops for us, remember?!” 

“Oh… OH! Ooooh!” Right, right Jaune had done that hadn’t he? Though if he was being honest, he always locked up when looking at the pretty girl on the box. Oh, oh it was her.

“Remember you’d always stare at her doe eyed.” AAAAAND now he was embarrassed again. Joan couldn’t help but chuckle, her response had thrown him off again.

“She’s also the 4 time Mistral champion, but I know both of you don’t care about that kind of thing.” Her two siblings responded with shaking their heads. 

By this time Jaune had gotten his bearings, his face was still red. “Uhm, Pyr… Pyrrha?” 

“Yes Jaune?” Her voice was sweet to his ears.

“Uhm, since you’re by yourself. Would you like to join us?” Oh my, he was quite sweet after all. Pyrrha came to a sudden realization, she’d like these three to be her team. 

“Yes… yes I think I would. Thank you.” She watched him give her the dopiest smile that melted her heart. She watched as Ruby hopped up and down, suddenly talking about a lot of things, including weapons! She watched as Joan also watched her brother, a knowing smirk on her lips. Yes, this year wouldn’t be so bad after all.

The four of them continued to converse throughout the afternoon, Pyrrha had learned quite a bit about them. The first and most surprising thing was that there were eight children in their family. That had been a shocker, she wondered what kind of mother they had to have in order for her to birth eight kids. 

Her thoughts dragged onto a large family, maybe one of her own? She’d been an only child and it had been a lonely life, maybe if she had a brother or sister it’d have been nice. Though, family planning had never been a huge part of her life, especially because the only people who had been interested in her had been lechers, or those after their own gain. Though… her eyes glanced over at the only male of their group, who knows? Maybe things could happen.

She’d been pleased with their questions though, no one asked about her career, they had been interested in learning about her, especially Jaune.

“So… you went to Sanctum?”

Pyrrha hummed in response, “Yep, went there for four years. Now that I think about it, you all said you were from Mistral right?”

“Yep!” It was Ruby who chirped in.

“I would have thought we’d meet if you guys also went to Sanctum.” 

This time it was Jaune who answered, an embarrassed chuckle escaping his lips. “Hahah, well we didn’t exactly go to school, we were all home schooled. Our parents thought that it’d be better if we learned from two inactive huntsmen. So Joan and I actually tested in, and we both passed.”

Pyrrha hadn’t expected that, but she had to admit that she was impressed nonetheless. This had been the most fun she’d ever have, she’d never really gotten to meet with her peers. She liked this, her desire to be on a team with the three of them growing. Though, her thoughts were interrupted as an announcement came out, advising that it was time to get changed. 

“Welp! Time to get dressed and get to sleep I suppose.” Jaune was the first to get up, grabbing his bag as he headed for the location where the male students appeared to be going. 

Pyrrha herself soon followed the other two Arc siblings. 

So, she didn’t know what to expect of their sleep wear, but animal themed onesies were not at all what she was expecting. Jaune wore a bunny onesie with a hood with two large bunny ears, Ruby wore a similar one but it was dog themed, and from what she could tell Joan was wearing a bear themed one. She listened as the people around them laughed at the trio, but at the same time the way they just ignored them made her smile. Though, she had to know why they were even wearing them to begin with. “Excuse me.” They all turned to her, having just finished preparing their sleeping bags, “May I ask where you got your pajamas from?”

The trio stared at her and smiled, “Oh, what’s this Pyrrha? You want one as well?” Did she? Maybe? They looked incredibly comfortable if she was being honest. “I’m just messing with ya! Don’t worry I get that it’s probably pretty embarrassing to be seen with us like this.”

“No! I was genuinely curious.” Apparently the look of indignation on Pyrrha’s face was enough to get them to believe her.

“Our mom made these for us.” Ruby was the first to respond, hugging herself tightly, her hood covering most of her face. “She has one for all our other sisters too.”

For all seven, Pyrrha found herself impressed by their mother’s commitment to outfit making. “Ya, we’re really lucky to have our mom. So we wear them, even if others laugh at us.” She watched as Jaune scratched the back of his head, that was really cute. 

“Yep! Ma’s great like that! She put a lot of hard work to make eight of these, so we may as well wear them!”

“Wait… eight?!” At her response all three siblings began to laugh. Apparently they’d been questioned on this before.

“Yep! There are eight of us!” Ruby beamed brightly, “We have Rouge, Saphron, then there’s Jaune, and Joan after!” 

“We’re the same age!”

“I’m a few minutes older Joan!”

Pyrrha couldn’t help but chuckle at the apparent twin’s antics. Ruby however, had not been deterred apparently, “Then there’s me! I’m the fifth eldest! Followed by me is Blue, Indy, and Viollette!” 

A thought hit Pyrrha, “Ruby, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you? You seem quite a bit younger than Jaune and Joan.” 

She watched as Ruby began to fidget, oh no she hoped she didn’t say anything that would be off putting. Though, to her relief Ruby ended up responding, “I’m 15. I uhm, Professor Ozpin invited me to Beacon.” 

Oh! That was quite impressive, “I’m still normal! I promise.” Oh, that’s why she had hesitated, Pyrrha meant to say something, but apparently her siblings had already moved into action. She watched as they wrapped their little sister in a tight hug. 

“It’s okay Ruby, we’re here with you.” They really were a sweet Family. 

“I’m glad I was able to meet you three.” Oh, Pyrrha hadn’t meant to say that.

“We’re glad too! It’s always good making friends!” Jaune blurted out on an almost automatic response, this caused Pyrrha to chuckle. “After all, mom always says strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet!” 

“I still think that there’s dangerous thinking.” Joan shook her head after her response.

“Oh come on! But we got to meet Pyrrha!” Ruby proclaimed with excitement, her previous worry having left her.

“Ya! This year’s going to be great!” 

Pyrrha couldn’t help but agree.


	2. Get Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm considering trying a React Fic for Team JNPR.

6:00AM.

Right on cue, Joan’s eyes fluttered open, her internal clock screaming at her to awaken. As her brain egan to power on and her eyes opened, she realized she was in an unfamiliar place. As unfamiliar sounds filled her ears her body sprang into action, slipping out of her sleeping bag she was on her feet in seconds. However, in those seconds her memories became unclouded. “Right… right we’re at Beacon now.” 

She was going to have to get used to that, she wasn’t home anymore, despite her calm attitude she was just as worried about being away from their family. Biting her lip she decided it was time to get ready, as she scanned her immediate area she noticed that the spot Pyrrha had previously been occupying was currently empty, a small note left in her place. 

Thank you for inviting me! I had a lot of fun, I hope we’ll be able to become good friends going forward. I didn’t want to wake any of you. 

Joan simply smiled, placing the note down so her still sleeping siblings would get the chance to read it if need be. 

“Hmm~” Joan contemplated the previous evening, Pyrrha had been interesting. She behaved and acted far different than one would expect of a star athlete, it was obvious that she simply wanted to get along with others and make friends. 

She couldn’t imagine what the poor girl must have gone through, apparently fame wasn’t all it was made out to be. 

But yeah, Joan liked her, she was sweet, nice, and friendly. Not to mention she was damn gorgeous, she was just her type. Though, that thought came to a pause as she stared at her older twin brother. A soft smile encroached upon her lips, no, it wouldn’t work out. She’d seen the way Jaune looked at her, the way he basically had hearts floating around his head the entire time. 

She wouldn’t get in his way, he already had enough girl problems before. She grimaced as memories of a little bitch came to her mind. 

Taking a deep breath she allowed herself a minute to calm down, glancing towards the large windows she noted that the sun still hadn’t risen. “May as well get ready.”

And with that she walked off, ignoring the looks of contempt she received every now and then. A smile flashed across her lips as she made eye contact with an especially brusque looking boy, one who was far too large for his britches. 

She watched as he grunted at her, her response was a simple polite nod followed by dragging her thumb across her neck. When the boy flinched she simply put her index finger to her lips and made a shushing sound. 

Having had enough fun she made her way into the shared changing room, her bag in hand, it was time to get ready for the day.

Back with the two slumbering siblings, Jaune’s peaceful slumber was interrupted as he felt a foot jam into the side of his waist. “Oww!” His eyes shot open as he turned towards the offender, a scowl appeared on his face. “Damn it Ruby.”

His little sister had somehow escaped the confines of her sleeping bag, her body sprayed out in an unusual sleeping position. Her foot currently buried into the side of his gut. 

“Should probably get up anyways.” Groaning he pulled himself out of his sleeping bag, grabbing his stuff. Glancing around their little sleeping area he noticed that Joan was gone, as was Pyrrha. He wasn’t surprised, Joan was always an early riser, as for Pyrrha, well she was some kind of super athlete so she probably got up early too. 

As he gathered his things, he noticed Pyrrha’s note. Reading it he smiled to himself, she really was sweet. Hopefully he’d get to know her better, hopefully things turned out better than last time. “Right… right I shouldn’t think like that.” 

“Mmmm~ Cookies~” 

“Hah… dear little sister.” Jaune couldn’t help but appreciate Ruby’s desire for sweets. ‘

Getting on his knees he placed a finger on her face, poking her cheek, “Ruby~ Ruby get up.” 

“Noooo~ Five more minutes~” 

“Ruby~” He poked her again to no avail, “Seriously Rubes?” 

“Mnnn.” 

Rolling his eyes he drew closer, “Ruby, Saph is going to eat all your cookies.”

“WHAT?!” 

“OW!” 

In an instant Ruby snapped upwards, her forehead making contact with her elder brothers. The two of them bowled over in pain each gripping their head. “Seriously Ruby?!” 

Jaune’s head was pulsing, pain filled his noggin as he grit his teeth.

“OoooW! Why were you in the way?! Why did you lie about the cookies!” Ruby wasn’t having a good morning, first her big brother lied to her, then he stood in her way, now she was in pain! 

“You wouldn’t get up! We have to get ready for the initiation thingy.” 

“GASP!” Any pain that Ruby had been feeling till now vanished as she jumped up. She was now filled with excitement and anxiety, but mostly excitement. “That’s right! Hurry up we gotta get ready!” 

Before he could react Ruby was gone, in a flurry of red petals his little sister vanished from view. 

“Seriously Ruby?” Turning back towards their little camping location he sighed, “Couldn’t even bother to pick up after yourself? Oh well…” After collecting his and her sleeping bags, he too made his way towards the prepping rooms. “I could use a nice warm shower before I get up, I wonder how Joan’s doing.” 

Joan was doing alright, she’d managed to get cleaned up and was currently in her hoodie. She hadn’t prepared her gear yet as they had to put all of that away. Something she wasn’t exactly fond of, now though, she was making her way through the cafeteria, breakfast in hand. 

“Now where to sit…” Thankfully there weren’t too many people up yet, but most of the people that were up sat in large groups. 

Finally she spotted a free table, well sort of free, only one boy and girl were currently seated. Though as she approached she started to realize why all of the other seats were free.

The orange haired girl was currently buzzing around, her words coming out a million miles per hour. “Huh… just like Rubes.” Thankfully, having grown up with such a big family made Joan nearly immune to the girls rapid fire responses. 

Taking a seat not too far, but not too close to the duo she began to eat her meal. That was till she heard it, and by it she meant silence, well relative silence to before. Slowly her head cranked to her left, the orange girl had stopped talking, instead she was eyeing her. 

“Uh… hi?” 

“Hello!” In an instant the now apparent, short orange girl was upon her. 

“Whoa!” Joan almost fell back in surprise.

“Nora…”

“Sorry!” 

Steadying herself Joan simply chuckled, she was way too similar to Ruby, except more people friendly apparently. “It’s no problem.” Taking a moment to stabilize herself she responded with a polite, “Good morning.” 

“Gasp!” The girl in front of her, Nora was it? Seemed shocked, “Good morning to you too!” 

Not wanting to be impolite Joan simply nodded, “The name’s Joan, Joan Arc.” 

The girl in front of her now had a manic grin, one that if Joan was being honest with herself and she rarely was, scared her quite a bit… “I’m Nora! Nora Valkyrie! And this!” She dashed away once more, only to return with the black haired boy from before. “This is my bestie! Lie Ren! But you can call him Ren.” 

“It’s a pleasure.” Was his only response, Joan couldn’t help but notice the plate still in his hands, he was apparently used to this.

“So! New friend Joan!”

“Nora… I don’t think you can just decide a stranger is your friend.”

Joan simply chuckled, this seemed rather well rehearsed, or at least something that played out frequently enough, if the boys almost jaded reactions were anything to go by. 

“It’s completely fine, my mother always says, Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.” Joan stuck her hand out.

Nora was basically vibrating in her seat! She’d never met someone so accepting of her other than her bestie and basically brother Rennie! This was a new experience, one that she was hoping could bloom into a full blown friendship! When Joan extended her hand Nora felt her heart jump! 

Most people often found her to be… overwhelming, especially on first contact. It was a surprise, a joyous one, to find someone that could put up with her even if it was just a little. 

However, what really sealed this friendship was when she extended her hand. Joan’s hand gripped hers tightly, and in that instant both of them gripped with as much strength as they could muster.

“That’s a nice grip there Nora~”

“I could say the same about you!” 

“Oh no…” This morning had not gone at all like he’d expected, though… it wasn’t all that bad. Ren didn’t know what to expect by coming to Beacon, he hoped that Nora and himself could escape poverty at the least. He also hoped they’d be able to train so they could help others, others that didn’t have to suffer like they had. 

What he hadn’t expected was for Nora to find herself a bosom buddy, now he could only watch in silent horror as the two girls stared at one another. He could see the ferocious looks they were using. In an instant Nora was on the other side of the Table, Joan’s food had been pushed aside as both of them placed their elbows flat against the table top. This wasn’t going to end well.

“This isn’t going to end well…” To his shock, another person had gotten closer, he’d been too lost in his thoughts to notice him. Though, from his appearance he felt as if Joan had sprouted another self, this time male. 

Things had been going fairly well, or at least Jaune liked to think they were anyways. Though he couldn’t help but notice the glares he’d been getting all morning. To say they made him feel unnerved would be an understatement, he chose to do his best and ignore them. “What did I even do?” 

As far as he remembered he hadn’t done anything to earn the ire of the other would be students. “I mean… I could have messed something up… usually do.” He had a habit of bumbling things, of not being as good as his sisters at stuff, but none of that really mattered before, maybe that was it? But they didn’t know him, that was just silly! 

Growing tired of the continued pressure from their obviously antagonistic gazes he decided it’d be best to look for his sisters. “If I was Joan or Ruby where would I be?” 

As if to answer his question he saw a red blur flurry towards what he assumed was the cafeteria, followed by a main of yellow? That last part was a little confusing. 

That definitely wasn’t Joan, so who was it that was following Ruby? 

Stuffing those thoughts for later he decided to follow his sister, as he reached the cafeteria he sighed in relief, no one was giving him the stink eye, at least not yet. Instead everyone's attention was directed towards a table that was on the far end of the room. Growing curious he saw something that terrified him, Joan was getting along with someone.

Okay, so that sounded kind of mean, but the only people Joan ever got along with were either incredibly stubborn or incredibly destructive, sometimes both. With hurried steps he made his way towards them, hoping to stop any kind of trouble they could possibly make, which as far as he was concerned was a lot. 

As he approached what appeared to be a trio, he noticed that the orange haired girls and his sister were currently getting ready to arm wrestle, “This isn’t going to end well…” He eyed the boy(?) yeah it was a boy, who was now staring at him. 

“Hi, I’m Jaune, Jaune Arc… sorry for any trouble my sister will be causing in a few minutes.” He extended his left hand while he used his right hand to scratch the back of his neck. 

“Lie Ren… and sorry for any trouble my friend, Nora, is about to cause.” Both boys shook hands, their eyes glancing back at the chaos that was about to ensue, only for a red blur to appear between the girls.

“ALRIGHT! I WANT A NICE CLEAN FIGHT! 3! 2! 1!” 

“Damn it Ruby!” This was going to be a long day, though he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, hopefully everyone passed, life could be so much fun. “Where did you even come from?” 

Ruby was having a heck of a time! She wasn’t allowed to swear, at least that’s what Saphron told her anyways. 

She’d gotten lost, worst was that she got lost and she was starving! “Come on, where is the cafeteria! Where are you! Come on nose, lead me the right way!” She really needed to eat! She couldn’t tackle the initiation on an empty stomach! Her dad always said that the way to success is through the stomach! 

In her hurry she failed to notice the girl in front of her, so with a loud, “Oomph!” She accidentally smacked into what felt like a wall of muscles.

Noticing the blond hair confusion hit her, “Joan?” Though, once her vision came back she noticed a much shorter girl, one with way more hair. One that… well she looked familiar. 

“Whoa there kiddo! Gotta watch where you’re going.” As Ruby got a better view of the girl in front of her. She noticed a few things, the long blonde hair, and the lilac colored eyes. 

“I’m sorry!” She paused, the next question coming out before she could think, “Ha… have we… have we met before?” Right, that was great, go ahead and stutter! Be bad with people, Ruby really hated that part of herself. 

She watched as the girl gave her a once over, “I don’t think so… but you look oddly familiar.” She flinched as the girl drew closer, inspecting her a little better. “You… what’s your name?”

“Oh uhm… it’s Ruby, Ruby Rose-Arc.” 

“Rose? Oh… oh! Okay, no wonder you look familiar. The name’s Yang Xiao-Long.” 

Xiao-long? That name sounded super familiar, then it hit her, the picture mom had of her and her original team. The boy she used to like, before she met pa! “OH OH! You’re dad’s the guy mom had a thing for before she met dad!” It then hit her, the stories of the other woman. “Oh! OH! You look like uhm… uh I can’t remember her name! The other woman on her team, the one that mom called a pain.”

She froze as the girl in front of her grimaced, oh no she should have shut up. However, she felt relief hit her when she noticed the girl smile. “A pain? If what my uncle and dad have told me, well that’s not far from it.” She noticed the sign of annoyance, but that changed, “Either way! Ya! I thought you looked familiar, you’re Summer Roses kid right? They always talk about her, like she was some type of super human. Good to see her daughter taking up the mantle! I’m sure they’ll be ecstatic to know she’s doing alright… she is doing alright, right?” 

Ruby couldn’t help but chuckle, “Yep! She’s doing great, and yeah! Most of us are following her, my older brother and sister are here for initiation too!” 

“Older brother and sister? Did they start late or somethin?”

“No… uhm… I’m actually only fifteen…” 

“Fifteen?” The following silence started to really bother Ruby, she was being judged, she hated bei… “Dang! That’s amazing! You must have done something really impressive.” 

“Oh! I uhm… it… it wasn’t really impressive…” Ruby was going to go on, but her stomach began to grumble, something that Yang caught onto.

“Hah, alright well sounds like you’re hungry. I was about to head to the cafeteria myself to grab something to eat before the big show began. You wanna tag along?” 

“Yes please!” Ruby beamed brightly.

“Alrighty! Well it’s this way!” She began to follow along with Yang, at least till she could see the door. 

“FOOD!” In a hurry she dashed forward, causing the blond bombshell to follow along in a hurry!

“Wait Ruby hold on!” 

Ruby made her way towards the line, ignoring the commotion caused by her sister, though she didn’t know it yet. 

Once Yang had caught up to her, the two of them grabbed their meals and were preparing to find a place to sit when she heard a booming voice. Turning her attention to the offending sound she found her sister Joan currently hand in hand with another girl. A blush began to creep up on her features until she noticed they were going to arm wrestle.

In a flurry of petals she was gone, “Wow… that girl’s got some serious energy.” 

Deciding she had nothing better to do Yang decided to follow along. 

In a blast Ruby was already in between her sister and the orange girl, “ALRIGHT! I WANT A NICE CLEAN FIGHT! 3! 2! 1!” 

“Damn it Ruby!” She ignored the obviously irate tone of her older brother.

Yang wasn’t sure what to make of the scene in front of her, Ruby had gone in between another blonde and an orange haired girl. If what she called her anything was to go by, she assumed the blonde girl with the red tips was her sister Joan. 

She had no idea who the orange haired girl was, but they seemed to be having fun, hopefully she’d get her turn too! She could tell from here that the two of them were powerhouses, she’d love to test her metal.

Turning to her side she noticed another blonde, this one looked rather similar to the first. Ruby had mentioned an older brother and sister, so she assumed that he was her big brother. Though… her eyes fell to the tall dark and handsome sitting next to him. Well then~ Mama liked.

Getting a better hold of herself, she made her way over to the more masculine… she had to pause on that one as she looked back at the two girls. Well the two males anyways, of the group. “Howdy~ The name’s Yang, Yang Xiaolong.” Placing her tray down she extended both hands, both boys looked awfully surprised to see her, but they both smiled, well then~ 

Yang was an interesting one, though she felt most people were the same, she liked both boys and girls. And well the dark haired one, he was a nice mix of both, if she was being honest. She liked the mysterious sorts, and he definitely fit the bill, now if only she could meet a nice dark and mysterious girl, get herself a collection. ANYWAYS! Her thoughts were thrown off when she felt both her hands clasped.

Both boys had taken the time to greet her, that was awfully nice of em. “Hello. I’m Jaune, Jaune Arc, I uh… I see you met my little sister Ruby.” Strange, he didn’t have the Rose in his name, she wouldn’t question it though not her place. 

“Yep! She’s a ball of energy.”

The way he scratched his head was oddly adorable, like a golden retriever puppy. “Haha… ya. Uh, that other blonde is Joan, my twin, oh! And before you ask, Ruby is our full blooded sister.” 

She cocked her eyebrow, “Get that a lot I assume?”

“Ya… way more than I liked.” This was obviously a sore spot, good thing she opted not to ask.

“And you cutie?” She smiled at the other boy, whose face turned slightly crimson, if she wasn’t looking for it she would have definitely missed it.

“I’m Lie Ren, if you can please call me Ren.” Yang nodded, again people had their circumstances, “The orange haired girl over there is Nora, she’s as she likes to put it, my bestie and sister from another mother.” Yang noted the fondness in his voice, a smile crept on her face. Now that was sweet.

“Well boys, it’s a pleasure. Hope we can become friends.” 

Ren did not miss the way she eyed him with the last bit. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he did find her quite attractive. 

He noticed Jaune nudge him slightly, “Hey is that okay?” He said pointing to Yang, and then Nora, Yang giving him a quizzical look. 

Ren simply chuckled, “Nora and I tried it once, it didn’t work out, we’ve been together for as long as I remember, that well…” He paused, giving a fond smile, “That we just sort of turned into a brother and sister duo. When we tried to be together-together, things turned out more awkward than not. We found that over all we preferred just seeing each other as family. I’m content with that as well.” He turned towards Yang, giving her a small smile, he missed the red tint of her cheeks. “I agree though, I hope we become friends, and if you can treat Nora the same as well.” 

Yang simply nodded, excited about the new prospects of friendship.

Him and Nora had been together for a long time, and originally he had been… rather stunted as far as emotions went. After losing his parents, things had become hard, and having Nora by his side helped, but still he had restrained himself.

Ren appreciated Nora, he really did, but like he had said, it hadn’t worked out as well as they had hoped. Still, he wouldn’t trade her from his life, and he knew that more than anything if he needed her she’d be there. Just as he would be there for her if the situation ever really called for it. Though, he also knew that she and he needed new friends.

Joan was having the time of her life, Nora was strong, REALLY strong! None of her sisters or Jaune ever gave her this much trouble when it came to arm wrestling. She had to admit she was having the time of her life. She hadn’t expected to meet so many interesting people in such a short time span.

As she and Nora continued their struggles, she noticed another girl walk up to them. One she was sure she’d be far more interested in, if she didn’t look like a sister… that was just a weird feeling.

Turning her attention back to Nora she spoke, “Sup new girl.”

“Yang!” It was Ruby that spoke, apparently the two of them had met prior, that was good she was making friends.

“Heya Ruby, I’m glad we were able to find your brother and sister.” 

Joan heard Ruby nod rapidly, her sister was such a little dork, it brought a smile to her face.

Pulling her attention away from the conversation that her sister and new friend were having, she smiled at Nora. 

“Hey Nora, you’re pretty strong!”

“Same to you Joan! I’ve never had this much trouble before!”

“I get to take on the winner!” Yang chimed in, oh ya, this group was going to be so much fun.

Though, as she continued to struggle against Nora, a thought came to mind. “You’re also pretty cute.” 

“Wh..waha?!” She smirked as Nora’s face turned crimson, and in that moment Joan applied more force.

SLAM

Nora’s fist met the table, though the fact she lost hadn’t registered yet, her face absolutely scarlet.

“I uh… uhm! That… That wasn’t fair!”

Joan simply closed her eyes and shrugged, “It may not have been, but it’s not like I was lying.” 

Nora simply buried her head into her hands. 

Ren couldn't help but chuckle to himself, “Your sister is surprisingly open. When she showed up, she was the picture of calm. Now though… she seems surprisingly more… boisterous?” 

Jaune laughed in response, “Yeah, of the three of us she’s definitely the most level headed, always looking for weak points whether it be in a fight or other. But there are two things she absolutely loves, romance whether it’s hers or others, and a good fight. Apparently Nora is striking those checkboxes…” He paused, “She’s also really good at it… like, she got all of the Arc flirting genes, I swear…” he stopped again, “Okay no… she got all of my flirting genes. Stole them from the womb I swear.” He stopped again, “Actually… I think all my sisters have more game than me… now that I think about it, how did dad get mom?! Mom’s the one with the game!” 

Ren simply nodded in response to his friends sudden existential crisis, “I feel like there is going to be a pattern with our new… friends…”

“Yeah… yeah… I grew up with 8 women… this, this is expected. At least I have you now, right?”

Ren turned towards Jaune, his left eyebrow cocked, though a small smirk appeared on his features. “Indeed, it’s a pleasure Jaune.”

“It’s a pleasure Ren.” Both boys touched fists.

“Speaking of girls…”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!” Weiss and Pyrrha had shown up now. 

A he stared at the two newcomers, he watched as Jaune’s face turned crimson, his sapphire eyes locked onto the lovely redhead. “Oh… well this is going to be an interesting year.”

Jaune felt his heart stop as Pyrrha showed up, he didn’t know what was wrong with him. He’d tried his best to avoid romance, since well since that incident. He felt his stomach plummet a little at the thought.

Shaking his head he walked forward, his eyes squarely on Pyrrha. 

Taking a deep breath he started to make his way towards her. Having already tuned out the gnawing voice of Weiss, he bit his lip.

“H...hey Pyrrha.” 

He felt his breath leave his lungs as she turned towards him, her glimmering emerald eyes sending powerful chills down his spine. “Hello Jaune.” She gave him the most radiant smile, one that made his heart race.

“Hey Pyrrha… I was uh, wondering if you’d u… you’d like to try… uh being partners?” Oh god he was such a stuttering mess.

Pyrrha couldn’t help but appreciate how adorable Jaune was, his attempts had been far more well… genuine, than others. She eyed Weiss, the girl in question however, appeared to have noticed Jaune’s attempts at teaming up.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!” Pyrrha herself flinched at Weiss’ high pitched voice. “Do you know who you’re talking to?!”

Pyrrha noticed everyone at the table eyeing Weiss, she especially noticed the way that Joan scowled, ready to get up at a moment's notice.

“I uh… uh… Pyrrha? We uh… we met yesterday. She’s… really nice and I was…”

“And what?! Do you honestly think you deserve to be on her team? Don’t know what she’s done! She’s the four time Mistral Champion! She’s the first Faunus to ever make it big time! And WHO are you!? I bet You just want her fa!”

Pyrrha was about to snap, she wasn’t going to let Weiss talk to her new friend like that, that was till another voice echoed out. “THAT’S ENOUGH YOU SPOILED LITTLE BRAT!” 

Everyone’s attention shot towards Joan, her eyes flashing briefly, she wasn’t going to have anyone talking to her brother that way, especially not after what happened before! 

Walking up to Weiss she stared down towering over the much smaller girl. “Shut up… what, gives you the right to lecture my brother? You prissy little brat?” 

Weiss was about to speak up again when she was silenced once more, “That wasn’t an actual question princess, you little daddy’s girl. Eating everything with that silver spoon of yours! Don’t you dare, try to dictate what someone else can or can’t do! If my brother wants to ask Pyrrha out, then it’s up to her to respond!” 

She missed both the reddening faces of Pyrrha and Jaune, as well as Pyrrha giving Jaune a side glance. 

“I… Why…” Weiss wanted to say something, but again was cut off.

“You may be used to getting what you want, but we’re all here to be huntsmen, and I can guarantee you, we won’t all be getting what we want… do you get me? Even if you are as pretty as snow damn it!” She hadn’t meant to say that last bit.

Weiss clicked her mouth shut, a small whisper, “I… I really don’t get what I want.” Though, a touch of crimson on her face, a mix of embarrassment and something else.

Most of the group missed this, except for Joan and Pyrrha, Joan because she was close enough and Pyrrha because of her enhanced hearing. 

“What do…”

Joan was cut off as the intercom went on, “All students, gather at the cliff side in 25 minutes… I repeat, all students gather at the cliff side in 25 minutes.” It was the voice of Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch.

Before the argument could continue Ruby’s eyes shot open, “I STILL HAVEN’T EATEN! WE DON’T HAVE OUR GEAR!”

Everyone’s attention went to Ruby, the cafeteria suddenly became incredibly noisy as student after student made their way out. Including Weiss, whose face was scarlet at this point.

Jaune watched as the students made their way out, he quickly grabbed a sausage from Ruby’s tray and stuffed it in his mouth. “HEY!”

He ignored his sisters plea, “Despite what she said, I dont’ think we can choose our partners Jaune. Though, I think it’d be fun if we were.” With these final words Pyrrha left, Jaune himself nearly choked on the sausage in his mouth.

“There there loverboy, there there.” To his surprise both Ren and Yang patted his back, Joan had already hurried off after Nora.

“I think I’m going to die before initiation…” He felt his heart race.

“Prolly.” Ruby chimed in, and with that the remaining members of their group made their way out, it was time to show their metal.

Somewhere in Vale a group of 6 made their way out of a large transport plane.

“Well… sorry that you all had to come along.”

“It’s alright Mom!” The eldest blonde said with a smile on her face,clad in red combat gear and spirits in high gear. “It’ll be good to visit the old alma mater! Plus they’ll be surprised to see us for sure!”

“Yep!” A girl with a green vest agreed, this one appeared to be somewhere in between Ruby and the twin’s age. “They won’t expect a thing.

A girl in blue, this one with glasses, and younger than Ruby nodded as well. She didn’t say anything, but she was just as excited.

And the smallest, a girl in violet colors jumped up and down. “They’ll be so excited to see you! And we can visit them whenever.”

The mother, one Summer Rose-Arc simply nodded, “I hope accepting was worth it.”

Her husband simply put a hand on her shoulder, “It’ll be fine.” She couldn’t help but feel her heart swoon at her husband’s words. 

“Well time to get going.”


	3. Initiation

Jaune had so many questions, like why was he here? Why wasn’t he asleep in a nice and warm bed! Why in the world were they on top of a massive cliffside. Why did it look like he was on some kind of ejection platform?! Why had he not taken his air sickness medicine?!

These were all great questions, ones he however didn’t have the answers too. He turned towards the headmaster, who was currently monologuing or something. He had been so much of a mess that he’d missed almost everything he said, well everything but, “you’ll be sent flying through the air.” Why would anyone do this?! Was this why mom told them to be worried about the headmaster? Was he a nutcase?! Jaune was starting to think that was in fact the case.

“Any questions?”

“Sir?”

“Alright good.”

‘What a dick!’ Jaune couldn’t help but think to himself. Thankfully he wasn’t the only one, as his sisters noticed this too.

“Sir! Can I… can I get my sickness medicine?”

He watched the headmaster turn to him, a smile on his face as he brought his cup of coffee? At least Jaune thought it was coffee anyways, to his face.

“No…”

“Hey hold on!” It was Joan that yelled out this time, however she was interrupted when everyone, yes every single person there was launched into the air all at the same time.

“WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!” Jaune couldn’t control himself, this was not going to end well.

“YOU DICK!!!!!!” Joan couldn’t help herself either.

“Rude…” Ozpin said as he smiled to himself, taking another sip of his warm beverage.

“Sir… do you think it was wise to launch them all into the air at the same time?”

Ozpin glanced at the retreating students, “I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Though, he noticed a small, thin object jettison towards Mr. Arc, hitting him and sending him towards the forest below. “I think…”

Jaune was not fine, he was anything but fine. He hadn’t prepared his stomach for this, and the sudden ejection had caused his insides to turn in ways he really didn’t want them too. Thankfully he had a lot of Aura, so he’d simply take the blow and recharge it once he was safe on the ground.

At least that was the original plan, “Is that a rocket?” He heard the sound of burning air getting closer and closer to him. He felt it before he saw it, a crimson javelin caught onto his hoodie, changing his direction drastically.

In an instant he found himself pinned to a tree, thankfully he hadn’t been hurt. Whoever had thrown that spear at him had to have been amazing because he hadn’t even needed to activate his aura! Well whomever it was had his thanks, this was a much better plan than taking a massive hit on the ground. “THANK YOU!!!!!”

“YOU’RE WELCOME!” Oh! He blushed a little realizing it had been Pyrrha.

Though now… now he had to wait, that shouldn’t be so bad… right?

Joan was going to kick him in the dick, she was going to find a way to kick their headmaster in the dick if it was the last thing she did. Thankfully she’d taken her airsickness medicine, so she wasn’t as disorientated as her brother. However, she still didn’t appreciate being launched into the air, as unfortunately, she also had an issue with her landing strategy.

As she continued to soar through the air she did her best to search for Jaune, though she apparently had no need to worry as an orange stick seemed to have caught him mid air. “Dang… I guess his flirting finally worked…” She couldn’t help but smirk to herself, good, he could use this. However, she didn’t have much time to contemplate the situation as she was getting awfully close to the ground.

She prepared to grab her blade, at least till she heard something woosh next to her.

Ozpin was a big fat meanie! How dare he do that to her big brother, when mom heard about this she would definitely have a fit. As much as Ruby wanted to dwell on the terrible things her mother would do to the headmaster she had more important things to concentrate on. Such as making sure she didn’t splat on the ground, or making sure Jaune didn’t make a massive crater.

Though, that didn’t seem to be a problem? Apparently Pyrrha had thought ahead, she knew she was amazing! You don’t get to be the mascot of an amazing cereal without being that awesome. OH OH OH! Maybe she and Jaune would hit it off! Maybe she’d have another sister! That’d be amazing, though… she was a lion faunus, Ruby had read things, but she was curious how that might go from what she’d read she knew her brother was going to be in for a lot!

Ruby scowled at the dark memory, feeling uncharacteristically violent at the thought of ‘her’. Shaking her head she realized she had more important things to do. Like make sure that she and Joan got partnered! She obviously wasn’t going to get in the way of a lioness on her hunt. A smirk touched her lips at the pleasant thought, though as she noticed the other yellow blur she smiled.

She pressed a button on her spear which she’d already drawn, the back end burst open in fire dust sending her flying towards Joan. She felt her momentum increase as she held onto her specially made spear.

“HEY!”

“Ruby!” Joan had apparently not been expecting her!

“Looks like we’re partners!”

“YEP!”

Ruby grabbed her sister’s arm, and as they drew closer to the land their bodies suddenly burst into yellow and red rose petals. In an instant they were on the floor below, Ruby felt awesome right about now.

Pyrrha hit her target first somehow, possibly because of how low angled her launch pad had sent her. Using her shield she made sure to guard herself as she fell through tree after tree. Finally she landed on a sturdy enough branch, falling into a full rolling flip. Instantly she grabbed her bearings, years of training and practice honing her perceptual skills.

Like a predator hunting their prey she found her target. She wasted no time as Milo turned into its javelin form, with a powerful throw she launched her precious spear. Believing in her aim she dashed forward not wanting to waste any time. She wanted Jaune as her partner, she felt things, things she’d never felt before.

She knew they weren’t emotions of romance, no it was something else, a closeness. She felt like she could become friends with him, well him and his sisters. But more than them he didn’t know who she was, and he seemed to care the least. He’d also made the most effort to reach out to her… well him and the Schnee.

She didn’t… she didn’t hate the Schnee… not yet anyways. Pyrrha hadn’t experienced the issues other Faunus did, her abilities spoke for themselves. No, what she felt was a deep desire to not be around the woman herself. Not because of her lineage but because of how she’d come up to her. How she dared to come in ‘friendly’ terms. Pyrrha was genuinely creeped out. She hated when people came up to her for her title, for her abilities. She hated the way that she wanted to use Pyrrha. It made her uncomfortable, almost made her feel like not a person. Then… then she had the gall to get after Jaune! Like he’d been the one after her for ulterior motives?! Seriously?!

Pyrrha felt herself fume at the thought, how dare that… she needed to stop, she didn’t like letting her anger get the better of her. She was more than just a lioness, she was a warrior, she was more than just a title or her name. So, hopefully she’d be able to experience that here.

“THANK YOU!” Oh he was so sweet.

“You’re welcome!” She shouted back as she made her way towards Jaune, making sure to stay to the treetops as she did.

Weiss couldn’t believe the day she was having, she had plans, plans which involved Pyrrha Nikos. Despite her… special traits… she was still an incredibly influential person and most definitely the strongest person of their year possibly of the entire school. She wanted to have her as her partner, she wanted to make sure that they partnered up. Though, now that she knew the rules she found the task incredibly daunting.

She just hoped however, that she wouldn’t end up with any of THAT group, especially that big woman. How… how did she grow so much? ‘I… I’m not Jealous…’ Weiss was in fact jealous, she had… issues? With her stature, but that woman, she was huge. She was tall, muscular, well built… she had nice hips… and an ample bust… and she had such chilling sapphire colored eyes that stared down at her when… “What am I thinking?!” She felt her face heat up, she’d never been scolded like that. When her… when her father did it, it was always full of anger and something else. But her… she was stern with her, it was obvious she cared about her family. Something Weiss felt another bit of jealousy on.

As she landed gently on the ground her glyphs allowing her just the right amount of resistance she began to search. For now she didn't have any plans, other than hope to run into Nikos.

“SUP SNOW WHITE!”

And there went any chances of having a happy school life.

Nora sailed through the sky, this was so much fun! She hadn’t expected to make this many friends already, and everyone was so great! She wondered if they’d end up on the same team, oh oh! Maybe they had teams of eight? No, she knew they were only four. She just hoped they’d all be bunched together. She loved the idea of having all her friends together.

She hoped she’d end up with Joan… not for any specific reason! She was just really cool, and really big. Like ,wow those muscles, she bet that if she got a look at her abs she’d be able to grind meat on those babies! She wouldn’t mind any of the others, her little sister seemed like a lot of fun too! Also her brother! He got along with Rennie! That meant so much to her, he was cute too, a little small for Nora’s taste. ‘Despite him being a near foot taller than me, but still!’ Nora couldn’t help but chuckle at her own thoughts.

She wouldn’t mind anyone, even that Snow White girl! She looked sad, like she was putting on a facade or something. Oh! She finally got to use that word Rennie taught her a few days ago! There was no way someone could be that mean! And if there was one thing Nora liked, it was helping people. Just like how Rennie had helped her, she couldn’t help but confirm to herself as she made her way to the ground, using her hammer to hit the floor with all her might causing a shockwave stopping her impact.

Now to find someone, anyone she would want to! As she made her way through the trees she spotted her target. “Not my first choice! But… we’ll see what we can do!” Joan had accepted her as a friend, so it was time for Nora to be a friend to someone else!

“SUP SNOW WHITE!” And like that the Nordic Winter partnership was formed.

Ren was having a heck of a time, though he wasn’t fond of such words he couldn’t really use anything else to describe his situation. He hadn’t expected to hit it off with… well with anyone if he was being honest. But to meet not only 1 but 2 people that he could be friendly with? Well that wasn’t a bad thing at all. Though, if the rest of the little group was anything to go off of, everyone else seemed just as friendly. Minus Weiss Schnee, he wasn’t sure how he’d handle her if she was his partner.

Still, he supposed that finding someone wouldn’t be so bad, his thoughts ended as he hit the ground. “Mmm, now what to do from…” He paused, taking a deep breath he felt the sinister presence. Without missing a step he ducked, as a white snake head soared above him, fangs bared and ready to strike. Thankfully he’d sensed the beast and prepping himself and waited for it to draw closer. As the snake-like grimm lunged at him he avoided it with, having prepared himself he was able to make his own counter attack. A quick slash at the snake’s neck proved to be rather ineffective. Jumping to his left he was able to barely dodge the black head. Now that he had gained some distance he prepared himself to fight the King Taijitu.

At least that was the original plan, “Yo! Need some help there?” Turning to his left he smiled, seemed like he wouldn’t have to do this on his own after all.

“If you please.” He didn’t, but having Nora along taught him just how important it was to reach out to people.

“Awesome!”

Yang had not expected her partner to be the cute dark haired boy, but hey she’d take it. She was mightily impressed with how well he handled himself. Even though he wasn’t able to see the Taijitu, he was still able to dodge it fairly easily. She couldn’t help but make a mental note of that for the future, could be useful if she learned something like that.

As she landed next to her new partner she took up her normal boxing stance, the one she’d trained with her father. “Shall we go together?”

Ren nodded, putting away Stormflower he prepared to use his Aura to combat instead.

“Oh what’s this? Going to go hand to hand as well?” She couldn’t help but smirk at the proposition.

“Yes, my weapon isn’t suitable for handling large Grimm such as the King Taijitu.”

She simply nodded, well looked like things were going to be interesting.

“Move to your right, 15 inches.” She was going to question what he meant but she saw the Taijitu strike towards her, in an instant she followed his directions. She watched as it sailed past her, it was then she realized she was in perfect striking distance.

“Hey! NOT!” Her right fist soared downwards as she met the Taijitu’s upper jaw. “BAD!” The shotgun in Ember Celica went off as she blasted the snake down. She was prepared to move when the black head began to strike towards her.

“Don’t move.” She listened, he hadn’t been wrong the first time, so she didn’t move.

Before the head could strike her, she watched as his palm met the beast's eye, his aura flared as it just stopped. Then all of a sudden the head began to grow in size, exploding into black tar which soon started to turn into black dust scattering in the wind.

“Dang! That was impressive!” She smiled, reaching her hand out, Ren took it with very little hesitation.

“Thank you.”

“How’d you do all that, I mean using your aura like that, and knowing where it would be?”

He simply smiled, “Just something I picked up along the way, training one's senses is important. It helps keep you calm, and lets you analyze the situation.”

She simply nodded, “Neat! Mind teaching me in the future?”

He simply smiled, “I advise it requires lots of patience, but if you can keep up, then yes.”

“Awesome! I could really use somethin’ to help calm me down… I get a bit too gung-ho for my own good, or so my dad says at least.”

Ren simply nodded, “That can come in the future, let us get going then. We should pass first.” And so he began to make his way towards the direction they had originally been pointed.

“Right behind ya partner!” Yang followed closely, though a thought came to mind, “I wonder how the others are doing?”

“I’m sure they’re doing fine.”

“WE ARE NOT DOING FINE!” Weiss was not doing fine, not in the slightest, how had she been convinced by this… this GIRL! That climbing on a Nevermore was the smart idea, how in the world did her life get to this point. She had thought that Nora knew what she was doing earlier, when she easily dispatched the Beowulves with rather impressive strikes and blows, but now she was dragging her across this wild ride.

“Oh don’t worry Snow White! We’re almost there!”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!” Weiss really didn’t like being called that, it was way too on the nose. It was such a literal translation of her name!

“Oh it’s fine! Besides we’re already here! Time to Jump!”

“Wait what?!” She didn’t get the time to respond as she felt Nora’s impressively strong arms wrap around her waist pulling her close against her… impressive bust. Seriously, what did these girls eat? Why was she so… ugh nevermind, still she didn’t have the time to think as she felt herself descend. This was not her day, she was not in fact doing fine.

“Ruby… this is a terrible idea, I want you to know that… there is no way the artifact is in this cave.” Joan stared at her sister incredulously as she attempted to have the two of them enter an obviously dark and not at all where the dang thing was cave.

“It could be! You don’t know that! Come on! Where’s your sense of adventure Joan! Imagine what treasures we could find there! Besides, I doubt it’s dangerous at all!”

Joans limply cocked her eyebrow, giving her sister the most incredulous look as she simply turned her head to the obvious warning painting that was outside the cave.

“Okay! That could mean anything, and what’s to say that it’s still here?”

“Really? You’re going to jinx us too? Ruby we’re not going in there, I’m your big sister and what I say goes.

Ruby bit her lip, she really wanted to check it out. She started to ponder on what she could… do?

A smile crept upon her lips as she stared at the sign, “Hey Jooooooan?”

Joan didn’t like that tone, she didn’t like what it implied, it was Ruby’s-got-a-plan tone and they were almost as bad as Jaune-has-a-plan tones. “What?”

“Sooooo I bet whatever's in there is really strong. I bet it’d give you a great fight, don't you think?”

Joan felt her eye twitch, oh damn it, “Ruby…”

“Oh I bet you could take it! Or… Or maybe you can’t?! Do you think it’s too strong for you? Something the great strong Joan Arc can’t fight! Whatever would our sisters think?! They look up to you sooooo soooo much!”

That twitch was getting worse. “Ruby…”

“BUT YOU KNOW WHAT! I BELIEVE IN YOU! I KNOW YOU CAN TAKE ON WHATEVER IS IN THERE!”

“I…” Joan couldn’t help but sigh.

‘Got her.’ Ruby’s grin grew into a full on smile.

“You know what? I know you’re playing me, but you’re right.” Joan’s sardonic face turned into a massive slasher like grin as she began to walk into the cave.

Though, that plan ended up not going exactly how they had wanted it too. In a matter of minutes the two of them dashed out, “OKAY THIS WAS A BAD IDEA! WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP ME JOAN?!”

Joan was nearly speechless, “SERIOUSLY?!”

Ruby giggled to herself as she grabbed her sister, “Joking joking! Let’s go!”

In a flurry of yellow and red the two vanished, hopefully not having to deal with the deathstalker any longer. Though… deathstalkers were called deathstalkers for a reason. They chased their prey till one or the other died.

“So… you have seven sisters?” Pyrrha couldn’t help but feel rather curious, what would growing up with seven sisters even be like? How could his mom have so many kids, did his parents not have hobbies? Would he have that many kids? The thought alone was overwhelming.

“It was… uhm it was something alright.” Pyrrha noted the small smile on his face, though she also noticed that he seemed somewhat… saddened?

“Is everything okay?”

Oh, he hadn’t meant to make her worried. “I… yeah… sorry just… having seven amazing sisters is kind of hard to take some times.” He put on his best smile, hoping that would be enough to dissuade anymore questions she may have.

Pyrrha could tell he obviously didn’t want to talk about it, which was fair, they had barely met one another. If she felt the need, she’d bring it up with him later, for now she figured it’d be smarter to drop the issue. “Alright.” She smiled back at him.

Jaune couldn’t help but stop, her smile was absolutely gorgeous, he felt his face turn red. Though he quickly shut his thoughts down, despite how he’d suddenly become infatuated with the gorgeous redhead, he knew better than anyone that it’d be an impossible partnership.

Turning around he took a deep breath, “So uh… is this the right way?”

“Yep, we’re heading North now.”

He wasn’t quite sure how she was able to tell that without a compass, but hey he didn’t know where they were going, so he figured it’d be better to just let her guide them.

“So, you didn’t go to a school?” Pyrrha was hoping to keep some form of conversation going, she’d rather not have an awkward silent walk as they made their way towards the artifacts.

“Oh yeah!” He seemed to beem proudly at this, that was good, finally something that wouldn’t make him sad. He was like an adorable golden retriever puppy, one that was sad because he wasn’t getting any head pats. She really didn’t like that thought.

“Our parents taught us, our Mom was a big time Hunter back in the day, and so was our Dad… I think?” He couldn’t help but chuckle at that bit, his dad always told such overexaggerated stories, he had a hard time telling the real from the fake most of the time.

Pyrrha simply nodded a long, “That’s nice, so they had time to train all of you?”

“Yep! Well, except for Saphron, but she didn’t want to become a huntsmen, she’s the only one that moved out and is living with her wife.” Jaune couldn’t help but have a fond smile on his face.

“Oh that’s sweet!” Pyrrha always loved to hear about other people’s happy relationships. She wouldn’t know what one was like,

“Yep! Though-” His voice was cut off as he was hit by a powerful swipe of a massive claw. His body was sent flying backwards, crashing into and snapping a large tree, which thankfully broke his acceleration.

“Jaune!” Pyrrha didn’t have the time to check to see if he was alright, as another powerful blow was sent her way. With barely any movements she avoided the claw, ducking right under it as it clipped a bit of her hair.

In an instant, Milo was already in gun form. Without any hesitation, she jammed the barrel of the gun against the beast’s jaw, pulling the trigger a few times, watching as she scattered its jaw to the winds. It didn’t last long as she turned the remaining portions of its head into swiss cheese.

Pyrrha wasn’t happy, not in the slightest, how dare these things hurt her friend. A low growl escaped her throat as Milo turned back into xiphos form. Dashing forward she made sure that they couldn’t respond to her, and tossing Akuo, she made sure to concentrate her aura into it. Guiding it, she was able to slam into one of the beasts, causing the shield to bounce towards the other. Letting her semblance go she let the following momentum do it’s trick as she concussed both bears. Pulling the shield back she made her way forward, she didn’t give them time to react as she drove her blade through the closest ones throat causing it to fall immediately.

As the other one began to gain it’s barings she shifted into javelin mode, tossing it she let it rocket forward pinning the beast from the head into a tree behind it. As all three began to scatter into black dust she prepared to turn towards Jaune, though stopped when she felt a gust of wind pass by her, a golden and red blur vanished from her view just as quickly as it came.

Pulling Milo back she began to feel as if something wasn’t right. In an instant the tree’s behind her parted and a massive Deathstalker was on her, it’s right pinsir coming down on her. She brought up her shield to deflect the blow but when she felt nothing she peered past it.

“Jaune?”

“Heya! Sorry bout that! Shoulda been paying better attention!”

Jaune had gotten up apparently, she examined him and realized he had no damage. The tree behind them was practically splintered in half, and here he was without a single tear on him. She was going to question it, until she literally felt what had happened.

Her skin tingled as she felt a rush of energy flow through her, it was hard to see in the light, but golden wisps of… of AURA! Golden wisps of Aura were surrounding her. Upon a closer inspection she realized they were coming off of Jaune, he was radiating aura, “Wow.” She was nearly breathless, she’d never seen, no she’d never felt this much concentrated aura ever. He had… he had so much. Were all his siblings like this? Was it just him? Then it hit her, while she’d been thinking, he was just standing there, practically pinning down the Deathstalker by himself.

She realized that instead of golden wisps surrounding the deathstalker, it was more like a raging river of gold. He was extending his massive aura pool, using it to pin the beast down. “You… you have a lot…”

“Yep! Way more than anyone in my family at least! And we all have a lot.” He was doing his best to hold down the Deathstalker, unmoving as it pressed against him, the beast did it’s best to break free from his hold. Jaune was proud of himself, sure he felt that he couldn’t match up to his sisters, but here he was a wall protecting a friend. This was what he wanted to do, what he wanted to be. Gripping his shield handle it began to sputter, the more the deathstalker slammed into it, the redder the shield got.

“Hey Pyr! I uh can’t hold this thing much longer, and I sure as hell can’t beat it! So I’m going to need us to start running!”

Pyrrha nodded, though she caught the little nickname he gave her, it was nice. Shaking her head she prepared herself, “Okay! Ready when you are!”

He simply nodded, his aura released and instead concentrated on his shield and at his feet. With one more pull the front of his shield exploded, it didn’t exactly send the deathstalker flying, but it pushed it back a fair bit. “Gods that always hurts!” Jaune felt his legs buckle a little, but he didn’t have time for that.

“Okay now we run!”

With that he and Pyrrha dashed towards their preferred goal, thankfully the deathstalker was still dazed.

“Hey! Whatcha know! Looks like we’re the first ones here partner.” Yang smiled at Ren, her new partner and teammate.

He simply returned the smile with a nod, “I suppose we should get our pieces first then.”

As the green and yellow duo made their way towards the artifacts, they heard a loud boom behind them. Turning around, Joan and Ruby were there, Ruby was currently out of breath obviously exhausted from Running. While Joan looked like she was about ready to throw up.

“Ruby… Ruby we’re never doing that again! Do you understand me?!”

“Y… yes ma’am!”

“Hey guys!” Both sisters turned towards Yang, who was already walking up towards what appeared to be chess pieces, “Glad to see ya’ll made it!”

Both sisters gave her a tired, but genuine, smile. “Thanks.” Joan answered first as Ruby simply nodded along, the two sisters making their way up.

“HELP!” All four individuals glanced upwards, only to see one Weiss Schnee falling from above.

“Did… did they just jump from a nevermore?”

“Yep.” Was all Ren added to the conversation. He was already far too used to Nora’s antics to be too confused by… anything she did.

“WE SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT!”

“RUBY NO!”

With a thunderous crash both girls landed, Weiss was currently frazzled as Nora simply smiled. “Rennie!” Grabbing onto Weiss’ hand she dashed forward giving her essentially adoptive brother a strong hug. “You’re alright! I was so worried!”

“Were you really?” He gave her a sly smile.

“Nope!” Popping her p she simply turned to Yang, “You take good care of him ya hear me?!”

“Hahah, of course! I look after my friends!” Yang gave a hearty chuckle as she slammed her fist into her chest.

She didn’t even wilt under the smaller girls strong glare, thought hat glare broke shortly after, “I KNEW I’D LIKE YOU!”

“I… I think I’ve had enough of today.” Weiss was incredibly tired, and now she was with the group of… of brutes!

She felt a hand on her shoulder, flinching at the strong hold, turning back she noticed Joan peering down at her. Her strong gaze causing her to freeze in her place, she braced herself for another tongue lashing, however that didn’t come. “It’s alright, we should be fine for now, we can just get the artifacts and head back.” A warm smile on her face, Weiss didn’t know how to react to this.

“Oh… okay thank you.”

“SCREEECH!”

“We should go before that thing turns back on us! It can shoot it’s feathers, so it’ll probably attack from a distance.” Ruby loved knowing about Grimm, her mother had buried that knowledge into her brain, and her father’s stories had filled her head with how dangerous they were!

However, before any of them could move, they heard a loud thump as the tree’s began to break apart in the distant forest. “Oh crud… that’s right it’s a DeathSTALKER.”

“Seriously Ruby?”

“YeP.”

“HEY GUYS! HELP PLEASE!”

All eyes turned back towards the forest, as one Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc fled. Pyrrha was clearly in the lead, being the faster of the two of them.

“Oh crap!” Joan grabbed her blade, finally ready to draw it but she was topped by Ren who pointed forward.

“Nora, Yang!” Both girls turned towards Ren, “Hit it’s pincers! Nora you take the right, Yang you take the left!”

“ROGER!” The blonde dashed forward.

“Aye aye captain!” Nora followed.

At this point neither girls had any reason not to listen to their green friend, Nora already knew what Ren was capable of. He’d led them their entire life, and his combat instincts and use of his Aura to direct a battle were top notch!

Yang had seen what he’d done before, so she guessed he was probably used to these kinds of things.

“Weiss?”

“Yes?” Weiss snapped out of her small stupor, she drew Myrtenaster, ready for combat.

“You can use Glyphs to slow your movement right?”

She nodded, had he seen her do that during the initial Landing Strategy? Either way he was perceptive enough that it impressed her.

“Alright, for the time being I just want you to watch them, if they need help try to use your Glyphs tos low down the Deathstalker.”

She didn’t like getting ordered around, but she was going to do it nonetheless. She would do what she needed, she supposed. Though, it didn’t help that Joan’s glaring eye kept her from doing anything.

Jaune watched as yellow and pink ran past him and Pyrrha. He didn’t get to see it, but he heard a might crunch behind him. Still he and Pyrrha continued to flee, once they were closer to his sisters he was suddenly hit by two incoming bodies. “You’re okay!”

Ruby gripped him as tightly as her little arms could. “I knew you’d be okay! But Joan was worried about you!”

He simply rolled his eyes, he knew that his sisters believed in him, at least more than he did himself.

“Sure sure Ruby… it’s good to see you alright as well Pyrrha, glad you took care of our brother.”

Pyrrha simply smiled, “He did quite the bit himself. I’m surprised at how much he could take.”

“YEP! HE’S THE BEST WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING BEATEN!!” Ruby was obviously super excited about her brother’s achievements, even if he wasn’t, it didn’t help that she thought her comment was a compliment. Still he couldn't help but smile at his sister’s words of praise.

Though they didn’t have time for this, “Ruby, we need to deal with the flying one!”

He watched as Weiss and Ren made their way towards the Deathstalker, Ren simply giving the four of them a nod as confirmation they’d be dealing with the deathstalker.

Ren and Weiss ran forward, now moving to assist their teammates, who were going to town on the Deathstalker. “Nora, jump to your left!” Nora did as she was told, the large Grimm’s stinger struck down, missing her by a wide berth.

“Weiss!”

He didn’t need to tell her what to do as she was already on her way, she had waited for this moment, allowing her teammates to draw the beast’s attention and for an opportunity to strike.

“This is… it’s nice.” She had issues with being given commands, but having the freedom to move without being targeted? That wasn’t so bad, in an instant she was upon the Grimm, she made a quick stabbing motion hitting the stinger with a blast of Ice Dust forcing the beast to stall it’s next actions.

Ren ran forward moving past her, grabbing Stormflower he made way towards the tail. As he leapt, he unleashed a torrent of bullets, burst after burst as the Grimm struggled, it’s tail began to come undone. As he drew closer he pulled the blade back, his aura began to seep into the blades on his weapons. With a single strike he removed the most dangerous part of the Grimm.

With its stinger severed the Deathstalker tittered backwards, losing its balance in the process.

Nora moved, as did Yang, they didn’t need Ren to tell them what to do. Wess herself was already advancing as well, pressing the blade of Myrtenaster into the ground several white Glyphs began to form under the Grimm’s front legs, in an instant she flipped the beast into the air. Not enough to fully send it to it’s back, but enough that the two powerhouses could get where they needed to be.

“GOOD JOB SNOW WHITE!”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!”

“NO! AHAHAhAH!”

Ren rolled his eyes at the friendly, sort of friendly anyways, banter.

Yang couldn’t help but cackle like a madman as she drew closer to the Grimm. Her aura flared, and flames appeared around her. She hadn’t taken much in the way of damage since coming here so her semblance wasn’t anywhere near it’s peak, but it would allow her to do what she needed.

Both her and Nora were under the Grimm in seconds. She pulled back her right arm, and Nora pulled her hammer ready to hit it with a mighty golf swing.

“Ready for this Nora!?”

“HECK YEAH LETS GO!”

With two massive blows the air crackled under the pressure as the large Grimm’s body began to crack under two incredibly powerful blows. Both hits smashed into the Grimm’s weakest parts, both mighty strikes ripping through it’s soft underbelly. With one last attempt it tried to move, tried to do something, but it was all in vain.

The beast was sent a good few feet into the air slamming on its back. With one last cry it vanished into black mist.

“Well done.” Ren smiled at the three in front of him.

“It was… satisfactory.” Weiss did her best not to fully acknowledge the situation, she wasn’t the one giving commands at least… but still they handled themselves… well.

“Oh come on Snow White!” Nora was upon her in an instant, “You had fun!”

“Yeah Ice Queen! Live a little!”

“STOP CALLING ME THOSE NAMES!”

She didn’t get the response she expected, instead a loud, “WOW!” Left Nora’s lips as she darted towards… a Nevermore… or the scattering remains of one as it fell.

Even she… even she was impressed, “How…”

While the fight with the grim Scorpion started, Jaune watched his sister stare up at the Nevermore, as she started to formulate a plan. “Okay! Okay I got one!” He watched as she paused, and then turned towards Pyrrha, “Pyrrha, can you grab its attention?”

“I can!” Turning Milo into it’s rifle form she began to pelt the large Raven. The angered bird turned its attention towards the four of them, flapping it’s mighty wings. The air around it warped, and in an instant, massive feathers began to scatter down towards them.

Pyrrha didn’t miss a beat, even as she fired she only moved slightly, the large fathers slamming next to her, missing her by a hair's breadth.

Ruby smiled as she swerved in and out of the direction, “Okay! I’m going to bring it down! When I do we’ll need to have you cut it Joan!”

Joan smiled, a manic grin crossed her face, “Oh excellent!”

Finally she was able to draw her massive weapon, almost halberd in shape it looked like a massive axe with a blade running down it. However, she slid her thumb across a trigger causing it to shift. Now it was a massive greatsword, gripping it with two hands she smiled.

She didn’t need to tell Jaune what to do, he’d figured it out by now, and figured she’d need a lift. “Ruby!”

Without saying anything his aura flared, his shield began to glow a misty green. “Oh! You know me so well bro!” Dashing forward she jumped on his massive shield, with all his might he tossed her forward, the shield exploding in a gust of powerful gravity dust sending his sister flying at high speeds towards the bird.

“How’s she going to direct towards it though?!” Pyrrha continued to fire, a little confused at the plan itself.

“She’s got this, for now can you keep its attention away from us?”

Pyrrha turned, watching as the siblings drew close to one another, though they weren’t touching she could see their golden auras mix. Jaune’s was flowing towards her, though… now that she thought about it she noticed those wisps of aura floating towards her again. She hadn’t put much thought in it before, but she felt stronger. Her senses were stronger, it was like she was watching the world in a slower vision. “Is this... you?” she asked. Her aura flared, whileJaune simply smiled.

She didn’t say anything more, instead giving him a confidant smile in response. Dashing forward, she continued the pressure, avoiding feather after feather as the annoyed bird continued to assault her. This was much easier than before, it was like her senses and body had grown stronger all of a sudden.

Joan’s aura began to pulse, growing stronger and stronger as she concentrated. Jaune’s aura continued to flow into her, powering her, amping her abilities and her aura to their limits. She was ready, she just needed Ruby to get that thing even a little lower.

Ruby’s body soared through the air, the Nevermore finally noticing her. It’s attention turned towards the girl as feathers began to bombard her. Ruby was finally in her zone. She wasn’t talking to people, even if these ones were fun. She was against Grimm, and Grimm was something she knew, something she studied thanks to her mom. Her aura began to pulse as she drew her spear close. The first feather came towards her, tilting the spear slightly, a burst of dust erupted from the rear, she zoomed past the feather as it flew past her towards the ground.

She was like a red comet, flying through the sky as the crimson dust from her polearm continued to send her faster and faster forward. She wasn’t going to slow down, she was going to move as fast as she could, faster and faster she drew close, the Nevermore had no time to react. In an instant she vanished in a cloud of petals, her body passing through the massive bird harmlessly.

The large bird became confused, at least, until it felt its left wing give out, in the corner of its view it watched as a red cloaked comet ripped through it’s wing from above.

Ruby had used her semblance to amplify her speed once more, scattering into petals to get above the massive bird she then shot herself back. The thruster on her spear, no on Fenrir’s Rose blasted her downwards.

The Nevermore screeched, whether in terror or something else no one would know as it lost its ability to fly. It’s body began to descend towards the remaining trio below.

“It’s coming down!” Pyrrha had already prepared to move, but the twins hadn’t budged an inch.

Pyrrha watched in wonder as Jaune stepped back. Joan moved, showing the weight of her weapon. “EAT THIS!” She swung in a powerful arc, Pyrrha didn’t see what happened but the air in front of her looked warped. Before she knew it the descending Grimm was ripped in half its body scattering into a black mist.

“Whoa…”

Jaune put away his strange makeshift sword and shield, while Joan sheathed her massive blade.

“WOW!” She turned to her side, watching as the four others just finished their own fight.

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT! WHAT WAS THAT!?”

Nora was excited, she just watched the super awesome and muscular and tall Joan rip a Nevermore in half! FROM FAR AWAY!

“I… would also like to know.” Weiss spoke tentatively, though she jumped in shock when she heard something land next to her, dust picking up as Ruby finally hit the ground.

“WOO!” The young Rose-Arc was on full adrenaline, dashing towards her siblings she threw herself at them. Her larger siblings caught her with no problem pulling her into a hug.

“Good thinking Rubes!”

“I couldn’t have done it without Pyrrha holding it’s attention for so long, or Jaune following up on the plan, and you ripping it in half!” She smiled, no she practically gleamed in excitement.

“Ahem… I would still like to know…”

“Seriously Weissy?” Yang turned towards her, “You can’t actually expect them to tell you what they just did, as… as insane as it was!”

Both twins simply stared at one another and smiled. “Well… Ruby’s speed, I’m defense and Support, and Joan. Joan is raw power.” Jaune smiled, proud of his sisters, he always was.

“Okay but what happened?!” Nora was pretty much in their faces, or at least as much as she could be.

“I… um would like to know as well.” Pyrrha knew she shouldn’t ask, they didn’t ask her about her semblance, but she was quite curious.

“Sure no problem, we’re friends~ My semblance is the ability to project my attacks~ Or duplicate them if you will.” She flicked Nora on the nose gently.

“Ow… ow!” Nora felt that twice! “How what?! WHa!?”

Joan simply smiled.

“Right, well my semblance is pretty straight forward, I can amplify aura, my own to make me sturdier or replenish my reserves.”

“His stupidly big reserves!” Ruby pouted a little, Ren found that rather adorable, in a small puppy dog kind of way.

“Right that…” Jaune simply rolled his eyes, “Or…” Slowly everyone felt their drained aura’s fill.

“Wha…” Pyrrha shouldn’t have been shocked, she had experienced it already. But, wow…

“That’s wow…” Ren was amazed, as someone who had a relatively low Aura pool, this… this was amazing.

Weiss was thinking the same thing, but she wouldn’t verbalize.

“Wait! So you can just like, throw your aura at people?!” Yang was impressed!

“I uh used to not be able to? Mom just taught me how to project my Aura, so I”m basically a massive wall. I can also kind of hold things down with it, make it semi solid if you will. I’m uhm… not so great in one on one situations though.” He scratched the back of his head as he attempted to avoid the gazes on him, he also wasn’t great when fighting people… he wouldn’t mention that though.

He felt a massive slap on his back, and a small one following it, “Chin up bro!”

“Yeah! You’re awesome!”

He couldn’t help but smile at his sisters’ praise, it really meant a lot.

“Indeed, you showed exemplary skills today, despite your uhm, self doubts.” Pyrrha wasn’t sure how to word it, but she was going to definitely help him with that one way or another.

Jaune winced a little, though she was right.

She felt bad when she watched him wince, “But! We’ll work on that together! I promise! We’re partners after all.”

Jaune couldn’t help but smile warmly at the offer, he wasn’t used to other people taking notice of him, it wasn’t so bad.

‘Oh my, he’s like a puppy, a really cute blonde puppy.’ Pyrrha thought to herself as a smile appeared on her face.

“Right! Enough flirting! We should get those artifacts and get goin!”

Everyone turned towards Yang, she was absolutely right! Though, that didn’t stop Pyrrha and Jaune from blushing.

Everyone went to get their relics, they’d been through a long long day, at least it was over for now. Jaune and Pyrrha grabbed one of the White Knight pieces while Ruby and Joan grabbed the other. Nora and Weiss ended up grabbing the White Rook, or rather, Nora had and Weiss was left dumbstruck.

“Ruby Rose-Arc, Joan Arc, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos. You four found the White Knight pieces, together you four shall be known as team RAYN, RAIN! Led by Ruby Rose-Arc!”

“Wait what?! Why me?!” Ruby didn’t dare to look off stage, she could practically feel all the eyes upon her, all the people watching her. But she wasn’t allowed to relish in her worry as she felt several strong arms pull her into a powerful hug.

“You did fantastic Rubes! You’re going to make a great team leader!” Her elder sister seemed to think so, though she didn’t quite agree.

“I agree, you proved your tactical and combat abilities quite well.” She felt Pyrrha was just being nice.

“Yeah! You did amazing Rubes!” Jaune just didn’t want to do it! She was onto his game!

Still it was her position so she’d have to handle it one way or another.

As they made their way down, they watched as their four friends were called up. Everyone, short of Weiss, gave each other smiles and high-fives.  
They would be known as team RWYN, RUIN, led by Lie Ren!

As the four made their way to their rooms, they allowed themselves to enjoy the comfortable silent that had befallen them. They were all tired, exhausted even, but they had made it through. But now they could, at least, go to-

“OH MY GOD! WE’RE NEIGHBORS!” As the eight made it to their rooms, Nora had indeed pointed out the truth. They were all neighbors, who would have thought!

“That is excellent news.” Pyrrha was happy, like genuinely really happy, she made friends and they were all going to be close!

“Ugh.” Weiss wasn’t so happy, though she made a small glance at Nora, then Joan, who were simply standing next to one another, though Nora was hopping in the air.

Ruby wanted to say something, but she’d used all her brain juice already!

Ren simply nodded, Jaune followed suit as they stood next to one another. At least they’d be close, it’d be easier to communicate, considering how well… how many women were in their lives.

Saying their goodbyes, they made their way in, smiles on their faces.

“Hey guys! I have an idea, before we go to bed why don’t we take a team photo?”

Pyrrha was practically glowing, a photo?! With friends? And not fans! This was exciting, she had never done that before! “I... would like this.” She hid her massive excitement well.

“Sure!” Joan nodded in response.

Jaune’s response was a bit slow but he was all for it.

The group drew closer, though Jaune’s face turned crimson when Pyrrha grabbed onto his shoulder, pulling him close to her to make sure they were all in the shot. She hid her emotions well, but a bit of crimson touched her cheeks as well.

Being the tallest, Joan pulled her scroll out and took the picture of the four of them together.

A few minutes later and the group was ready to go to bed. Pyrrha was happy, she was really happy, things had gone well, much better than she had initially thought, this was going to be fun, she could feel it. Then she heard something, a noise coming from their friends rooms.

Pyrrha jolted as a loud crash came through the side of their wall. Her eyes shot wide open as Yang and Nora wrestled through the once sturdy structure. Though, somehow, that wasn't the surprising part. It was the fact that they were all currently in their underwear, Weiss included. She could make out Ren in the distance, his eyes closed apparently meditating.

A hint of worry hit her chest as she turned towards her own teammates, specifically Jaune. Though to her own relief, the boy was currently staring away, even if his face was crimson.  
She didn’t keep her gaze long, but she couldn’t help but release a quiet "Hmmm..." She'd apparently been audible enough for him to hear.

"Sorry..." Why was he apologizing to her? Despite her question a part of her felt relief.

Turning her attention to Ruby, the girl seemed far more worried about the wall as she dashed back and forth trying to pick pieces up.

Joan on the other hand, "Damn nice!" She was very much oogling the other girls. What followed as an annoying wolf whistle.

"Dang it Joan, you're supposed to be the level headed one of us." That was Jaune.

"Hey... I'm just being honest. It's not like I was the one that broke into our room, and destroyed our wall... at least they're giving us a sho..."

A loud slap echoed through the room as everyone fell silent. Weiss had apparently walked up to Joan giving the girl a well placed slap, "That is incredibly rude and uncalled for, we are ladies..."

"YA! LADIES!" Both Yang and Nora 'agreed', while the continued to try to pummel one another. This didn't help Weiss' statement. She swore she could hear Jaune silently cheer, "Oh thank goodness, wasn't me."

At least Goodwitch wasn't around, this could be, "CHILDREN."

Really bad...

“At least things couldn’t get any worse right?” Yang was pretty confident in her statement.

“KIDS!”

The three Arc children had mixed facial features, Ruby was excited, Jaune was confused, and Joan was terrified.

“MOM?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Artwork By MRK50!  
> Adding this in as an addendum but credit and thanks to Selene_Sokal for proof reading!


	4. Dice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE
> 
> I just want to thank my wonderful proof reader Selene Sokal!

“Jaune Arc vs Cardin Winchester!” 

Joan grumbled silently to herself as she watched the screen finish rotating, her brother’s bashful face matched up against Cardin’s very punchable face. She hated watching Jaune fight, not because she had anything against the way he fought, in fact she loved watching him fight so did Ruby, and apparently Pyrrha, she was somehow unsurprised that Pyrrha was interested in her brother fighting or otherwise. No what she hated was the rest of the class… **“BOO! BORING! GET OFF THE FIELD ARC!”** Various voices echoed throughout the room, unfortunately not many agreed with her. The remainder of the class hated his methodological way of fighting, his practice patience, the way he waited for his opponent to screw up. 

“OI WHY DON’T YOU GUYS SHUT UP!” 

“HECK YEAH! I’LL BREAK YOUR LEGS!”

Though, Joan couldn’t help but smile to herself, even with all the naysayers she was grateful for their friends. Yang and Nora being surprisingly vocal cheerleaders for their little group. 

Speaking of their little group, they’d received quite a few surprises the other day. One of those being in the form of… “All of you will be silent… do you understand me?” Their new combat instructors silver eyes scanned the room, forcing an uneasy silence to fall over the once rowdy students. 

Joan eyed their instructor, a shiver running down her spine as silver eyes fell upon her. Why did things have to turn out this way? She was a good girl, she was the one that normally kept her siblings in line, so was escaping their loving but semi overbearing mother impossible? 

Her memories flashed back to that terrible day a few weeks ago…

“MOM?!” Joan’s mind froze as she stared at her mother who was standing in front of their door along with Glynda Goodwitch, who looked as if she had the worst headache in existence.

“I’m not fixing this… Ozpin doesn’t pay me enough for this…”

As if on queue, Ozpin himself showed up behind their mother and headmistress, causing all of the children in the room to seize up, “Hmm… that’s fine actually…” Joan’s eyebrow cocked up, finally able to take her eyes off of her mother’s judging gaze.

“What exactly do you mean Headmaster?” She was hoping to get their mother’s attention off of her. 

“You eight shall hence forward share a room… I think this should be an interesting experiment…” 

The following silence was deafening as no one knew exactly what to say, apparently mother dearest was also shocked, if not a little annoyed by the headmaster's sudden decision. Glynda herself just didn’t appear to care at this point, her job obviously tiring her out, Joan had to wonder if she had grey hairs already.

“WHAT!?” Weiss was the first to break it, her face contorted in frustration, shock, and embarrassment. Joan watched as the incredibly pale beauty walked past her teammates and towards the forefront of attention. “Headmaster, you can’t be serious! There is no way that I can share a room with… with a boy!” Her snow white finger extended towards Jaune, who was still doing his best not to turn his attention towards the girls, instead fixating on their mother, who was eyeing him just the same.

Joan made sure to glance in Ren’s direction who hadn’t even budged since the situation started, almost as if he was used to the madness of it all. “Ms. Schnee, as a hunter you will have to grow accustomed to co-ed situations.” He paused, “I also believe you were sharing a room with a boy to begin with.” 

Weiss apparently had nothing to say on the matter as her mouth snapped shut, her eyes glanced downwards. “Well then students… we will work on fixing the dormroom for you all.” 

“Okay! But that doesn’t explain why mom is here!” Ruby was the first to bring up their mother.

“Mom?!” Four voices shouted at once, Yang, Nora, Weiss, and Pyrrha all took glances at Ruby, then at Summer, then back to Ruby. 

“Oh wow dang! You look just like your ma!” Yang couldn’t help but feel amazed as she stared at the mother daughter duo, taking the chance to glance at Jaune and Joan she noticed they looked nothing like their mother, that was till she noticed that much like their mother Joan also had short hair. Where as her mother and sisters were black, she had blonde hair, but just like theirs the tips faded into a dark red.. “Wait, Joan is your hair natural?” 

“Huh? Yeah, why would I dye it?” Joan showed an obvious sense of confusion at Yang’s question. 

No one really wanted to say their thoughts out loud, though Jaune was the one that thankfully broke the silence. “She actually gets that a lot, but yes, she has red tipped hair, just like our mom just like Ruby, and a few of our other sisters. Most of us take after our dad though, Ruby just looks the most like our mom.” 

“That’s so cool! Ruby you look just like your mom!” Nora’s excitement was almost infectious.

“This is… surprising… but that doesn’t explain why you’re here Mrs. Arc?” Pyrrha’s voice was quiet, she hadn’t missed the way that Summer had sent judgemental glances her way, possibly catching the way she’d looked at her son earlier, or just because she knew something that Pyrrha herself didn’t. 

Thankfully to her relief, the mother of eight didn’t seem to be off put by the question,a s she was the one that answered for the two professors. “I’ll be taking Glynda’s place as your combat instructor for the year.” 

“No!” Everyone’s head snapped towards Joan, utter shock sprawled across her face as she stared her mother down. 

“Is there a problem with that, my precious little sun?” 

The larger girl wilted under the powerful gaze of her mother, “No… no there is nothing wrong with that mom…” 

Pyrrha and the others remained silent, the rowdy and powerful girl they’d seen in combat was nowhere to be seen as she seemed to cave under her mother’s very presence. Though, Pyrrha supposed that there was no winning against one's own parents. 

“Your sisters and father are also here, they’ll be helping in class from time to time.” 

This seemed to oddly perk, “Viola’s here?!” Ruby was practically vibrating at the thought of the name.

“Viola?” Weiss was obviously confused by the name.

“Yeah, she’s our baby sister.” For the first time since he’d been here, a proud confident smile plastered Jaune’s face. Pyrrha couldn’t help but admire the look on the young man, now only if he did that more often.

“Yep! She’s the youngest Arc, and everyone’s little baby sister. We’re all pretty doting of her.” 

“Yes yes, my precious little baby is here too.” Mrs. Arc seemed to pause before a smile lit on her face, “All my precious babies are here after all, well except for Saphron.” 

A chill filled the room as all three Arc siblings seemed to freeze in place.

“No… no why is she here?! Shouldn’t she be out on the field?!” Joan’s expression was bleak, almost desperate. 

“Yes, but I offered her a place as security detail. It will allow her to get good pay and stay near her family.” Ozpin seemed to have not cared for the sudden change of disposition. “Well children we’ll leave you to it, for now we’ll have to get Mrs. Rose-Arc situated as your new professor.” 

“Don’t break anything else children.” Glynda followed the headmaster out.

“It was a pleasure meeting my children’s new teammates and friends! I hope that you treat them right, they’re good kids.” Their mother left giggling madly as she followed after the professors.

  
Joan had never been so embarrassed in her life, the following questions were torture as everyone wanted to know how many siblings they ad, what they were like, and what was going on or if they knew about this. Weiss didn’t enjoy the fact that their mother would be their professor, she made that pretty clear in the following conversation.

  
  


And that led them here, as everyone watched and prepared for the long fight to commence. 

“FIGHT!” 

Her mother’s voice echoed through the arena and like that the fight started. Cardin moved first, most likely not wanting to let Jaune begin to turtle. It’s a shame that he was far too slow. The crashing of metal echoed throughout the halls, but as Cardin came in on a brutal swing,Jaune tilted his body. With a metallic _shriek,_ Cardin’s vertical slam slid down the shield’s side, utterly ineffectual. Blow after blow, Jaune’s ability to deflect each powerful strike continued to set his opponent off. It was obvious Cardin was already growing frustrated as each strike proved useless. This was the reason that the class hated Jaune, the reason he was considered the ‘weakest’ person. He rarely struck, hardly ever needing too, because of his constant defense he was always looked down upon by those who didn’t fully appreciate what it was he did.

Even Joan had to admit her brother was annoyingly good at deflecting blows, he rarely ever simply took the attack even if he could. She had asked him why at one point, he told her that if he can avoid taking any unnecessary damage he’d just avoid it all together. 

_“Arc’s such a loser.”_

_“I know, all he ever does is defend.”_

_“Why did they even let him in the school?”_

_“I dunno, bet it’s cause he’s a mama’s boy.”_

Joan rolled her eyes at the dismissive whispers aimed at her brother. She’d remember their faces for the future, but for now she’d pay attention from the fight. 

**SNAP**

Her attention quickly fell to Pyrrha, whose hands snapped a pencil in half, now that she got a look, most of their new friends didn’t appreciate the peanut gallery. She really couldn't help but smile, they really did make some good friends. 

“YOU BASTARD! STOP BLOCKING AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!” 

He wasn’t going to rise to the provocation, Jaune didn’t like attacking if he could help it, instead he’d just let Cardin wear himself out like everyone else. There were several times where he could have struck, but the blows wouldn’t have been decisive and he opened himself up to being attacked. That’s what he often told himself, but honestly he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make the blow count, he didn’t want to have to slash at another human… he didn’t want to hurt anyone. He winced as images of blood flashed through his mind, the memories of a crying child flickered in and out. He was a coward… he knew this. Even as Cardin completely wiffed and opened himself up to a free slash, he hesitated. His grip grew tight around the grip of his sword. He couldn’t do it… he could never do it. 

_“Arc’s such a loser.”_

_“I know, all he ever does is defend.”_

_“Why did they even let him in the school?”_

_“I dunno, bet it’s cause he’s a mama’s boy.”_

They thought they were quiet, or maybe they just didn’t care. But he could still hear them, the jeers from the crowd. He always pretended to not care, always pretended to be the wall he wanted people to think he was. But they hurt, they hurt because he knew how true they were. He didn’t belong here, he wasn’t like his sisters, he wasn’t as amazing as them, all he could do was take blows. It didn’t help with how amazing his new friends were, they were all heads and leagues above him. Why was he so afraid? Why couldn’t he just do it, why was he so weak? 

He messed up, lost in his thoughts he’d forgotten to deflect a blow as Cardin’s massive mace came down upon his head slamming his body straight into the arena cracking it, followed by the loud splintering sound of the floor cracking under a massive fire dust explosion. His vision faded as pain filled his body, his head reeled from the massive blow as the explosion further sent powerful concussive force through his quivering body. 

“JAUNE!” He couldn’t tell whose voice it was, his ears were still ringing.

“JAUNE!” Pyrrha’s heart raced as she watched her partner literally face tank a blow that cracked the ground beneath them. 

“Is he okay?!” She wasn’t the only one who was worried, it appeared as if all their friends, Weiss included, were worried about it. 

“HAH TAKE THAT YOU LOSER!” Her hands balled into a fist at the sudden jeers, why couldn’t these people just shut up!

“YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD BE PARTNERS WITH PYRRHA WITH THOSE SKILLS?!” 

_Oh, that did it._

She was about to say something, when surprisingly Weiss voiced her opinions, “Will you lot be quiet?! The match isn't over yet, so stop your insipid babbling. You are no longer children, so sit down and be quiet!” The crowd looked like they were about to say something, but her icey glare froze them in their place. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?” And with that, no one bothered to say anything.

“Thank you…” Was all Pyrrha could whisper to the icy girl.

“I didn’t do it for the dolt… they were just disrespecting a match.” Maybe she’d gotten the wrong idea about the Schnee. Though, she probably wasn’t the only one if the looks of Nora and Joan were anything to go off of.

Speaking of which, “Ruby, Joan aren’t you worried for your brother?” They hadn’t made a deal of the situation, instead both kept their eyes glued to the fight below.

“NoPe.” Ruby’s voice popped with the P, “He’s fine, he’ll always be fine.” 

“Yeah, there isn't a thing on this planet that can take him down. Jaune’s the best after all.” Both girls laid out their flourish with full confidence in their brother. 

Pyrrha was nearly taken back, she had seen him take blows before, but she hadn’t actually seen him well… do anything other than take hits? Still if they were confident in their brother, then she would too, she was his partner after all. Now that she thought about it, Mrs. Rose-Arc didn’t cancel the fight, her eyes fell to their new professor who seemed nonplussed by the situation.

Teeth grit, his hands gripped the ground tightly. The floor crunching beneath his grip as he forced himself up. His bones rattled as he moved, the blow had nearly shaken him to his core. His body ached as he stood, aura pulsing as he got his barings. He could take any hit, could get back up, but that didn’t stop his body from reeling from the pain. He’d trained himself to take hits, over and over he’d pushed his body to its limits. And here he was, finally showing what he could do, after all Grimm hit far harder than any human could. 

The attention fell back to the girls above as Pyrrha watched her partner rise once more.

“Besides look at the auras on the board.”

Five pairs of eyes fell on the board, noting a sudden dip in Jaune’s aura only for it to flicker once and then proceed to refill. 

“Wait what?!”

“YeP! Jaune’s the best strongest older brother ever!”

Pyrrha was sure that he’d gotten hurt, but as the boy rose from the rubble there was nary a scratch on him. Instead his aura was pulsing, not flaring, not forming whisps like it normally did, it was honestly just pulsing.

“Ruby’s over exaggeration aside, Jaune’s really hard to hurt. You kind of have to keep up the pressure, or his aura will regenerate pretty fast, but he tends to hide behind that massive shield of his.” Pyrrha almost noted the jealousy in Joan’s voice, though the smile on her face contradicted that situation. “Besides, there’s always a ring out, though… good luck getting him out of the ring.” 

This was astounding, Aura NEVER regenerated during combat, it usually took several minutes of constantly trying to get it back, or resting long enough for it to refill eventually. Though… she had to wonder why Joan had said that aloud.

The smile on her face however… it spoke volumes as the students behind her whispered their ‘future’ battle plans. It hit her soon enough, she liked it… liked it a lot.

She was sure Weiss would have made a comment, if the girl herself wasn’t staring in awe at the stage beneath them.

“WHY WON’T YOU STAY DOWN YOU COWARD!” Once more Cardin rose his weapon above his head, slamming into the ground sending a shockwave towards Jaune. Her partner simply stood there, taking a deep breath as he put his sword away. 

“Why is he doing that?!” Yang was the first to nearly freak out.

“Jaune-Jaune no! You need it to hurt him!” Nora was next.

“You dolt, what are you doing?” Weiss was quieter about it.

“I see…” Ren was the second to figure it out.

Pyrrha was the first, not including his sisters. “I see… if he can’t raise his blade towards people, then he doesn’t need the blade at all.”

“Yep! GO JAUNE GO!” Ruby’s voice cheered her brother on, while Joan was content with just walking.

Pyrrha watched the young man duck down, his shield suddenly expanding further. She noticed that he was doing something, his aura pulsed inside of his shield. She wasn’t sure what he was planning, especially since Cardin’ seemed to have been winded with that last attack, was he going to defend then move to atta…

Her question was answered the moment that a blast roared from behind his shield, consuming him in a blaze of crimson. In an instant he was no longer where he once was, blowing through the shockwave. She noticed the moment it made contact with the blast it pulsed, his shield always pulsed when something hit it and she’d finally figured out what that meant. “I see…” 

In an instant he was upon Cardin, his shield smashing into the larger boy. “GAAAAH!” Once more his shield pulsed, which was then followed by a massive eruption of aura and dust. In an instant Cardin’s body was sent flying, his grip upon his weapon loosened. Then in the next moment he was laying on his back outside of the ring. His aura only just now hit the yellow.

“JAUNE ARC IS THE WINNER DUE TO RING OUT!” 

And with that the lights flickered back on.

Silver eyes fell upon sapphire blue. “Good work as usual Jaune. Though, for future reference you may want to take the initiate more often. There were several moments where you could have done an efficient counter strike.” Summer knew this well, she helped train her son after all. Though, despite her critique, she understood there were things even she couldn’t help him with. She knew how he felt about using a blade against another living being. “There will be times when you need to fight against other humans. And… unfortunately there are going to be times when you have to take a life. It may not be the most… it may not be what you want, but there may come a time where you have to make the decision or lose someone you love.” 

It pained her to watch her son wilt at her words, but they were still necessary. He was talented, he just didn’t realize it himself. 

Now then, turning back towards the loser of the match. “Mr. Winchester.” The brute of a child eyed her with clear disdain.

“Yes?” 

“While you have great strength you often don’t plan ahead. In the situation where you are unable to knock out Mr. Arc’s aura, you should have opted for an alternate form of take down. Or in press the attack instead of wasting all of your energy in a single big blow. An alternative to wasting your energy would have been to ring him out instead.”

“Tch, no man worth their salt goes for a ring out, that doesn’t work in the real world! That didn’t even count as a win!” Despite his attitude he was clearly out of breath, fatigue had set in long before he’d been knocked out of the arena.

Summer nearly rolled her eyes at the boys back talk, “And yet you were defeated, if the match had gone on for any longer you may not have been able to continue the match. You’re already nearly out of breath as it was.”

He clearly wanted to say more, however she raised her hand up, after which the bell rang.

“Alright then, class dismissed, remember students, victory can be lost or gained depending on how you handle the battle. There is always more than one way to victory.” And with that the class was dismissed, turning her attention towards her son she gave him a sympathetic look. She wanted to help him, but at this point it was rather difficult, he needed help with his confidence, and being more proactive. She herself was at a loss at what to do, but she didn’t want to let him sink or swim on his own. 

“Ms. Nikos, may I please speak to you after class?” 

Jaune’s eyebrow quirked as his mother called out to his partner, though he didn’t like it he decided not to question his mother. As he made his way out of the room he felt a large shoulder bump into him, and yet despite his fatigue he neither budged or gave an inch. Staring upwards he eyed Cardin who was giving him the ugliest of looks. 

“Jauney-boy! You better not think you won that! Your bitch way of fighting means nothing, you hear me?!”

He obviously attempted to look intimidating, and Jaune was sure, in one life or another, he would have found it so. But he’d dealt with people far stronger than Cardin before, hell every one of his friends was above the boy, so he didn’t see the reason to cower in fear. 

“Yeah! You’re such a mommies boy! I bet that’s the only reason you even got in!”

And then started the usual jeering from the passerbys and his usual mooks. While outwardly he didn’t budge, he still found himself wounded by their words. He already felt inferior and insignificant towards the others. Still he bore it, like he did every day of his life, like he did when he was always compared to his sisters. His family always had his back, was always there for them, but honestly how much of that could he trust? 

When everyone else thought he was useless and weak, when they couldn’t see if he had any good qualities. He just gave up, instead of ever learning to really go on the offensive he always stayed on the defensive. If they couldn’t crack his exterior they couldn’t hurt his heart, and that was the same now. 

“Whatever you say Cardin.” He simply walked past them, even as they tried to surround him he did his best to push forward. However, Cardin had enough, placing his hand on his shoulder he raised his fist only to stop at a sudden voice.

“OI! Do you want your legs broken Cardy? Cause I’ll break your dang legs!” And thank you Yang! Internally Jaune felt relief wash over him, he could take it but he hated getting hit nonetheless. 

“OH OH OH! Yeah! Let’s break his legs! I call the right one!” He really did have good friends… but sometimes he… he could handle it himself right? Right he could have, but he didn’t… or at least he hadn’t yet..

“Nora, you can’t break his legs.” Ren waited for a tic, “In public.”

“OH OH! I know! I could whisk him away! HE DESERVES IT.” Jaune loved his little sister.

“No… no I think I’ll be breaking more than his legs.” Joan’s voice was a low growl.

The only one who didn’t comment was Weiss, who looked away, nearly frustrated at the situation but doing nothing to stop it.

“Tch! Fine! I’ll back off the stupid loser!” Even as Cardin walked off he decided to leave one last bit, “You won’t have girls to save your ass in the future Jauney-boy!” 

“HEY REN ISN’T A GIRL!” Both Nora and Yang shouted at the same time causing the boy in question to groan silently. Both girls took the opportunity to give one another a solid fist bump.

As his tormentors made their way out, a mirth of laughter filled the hallways as everyone, Weiss included, began to laugh at the last comment. After a while, Joan approached him, her hand placed firmly on his shoulder. “Everything alright?”

And like usual he lied, “Yeah I’m fine.” He lied as easily as he breathed, it was what he was best at after all, hiding the pain. He didn’t need to worry others, that was never his place in life. “Let’s just wait for Pyrrha then we can go get lunch, are you all good with that?” After receiving several nods of confirmation they decided to wait outside of the room.

Pyrrha wasn’t sure what she was expecting when her team's mother called out to her. She hoped it wasn’t to chew her out for something she didn't do, as far as she knew she wasn’t well liked by their professor.

“Pyrrha.”

“Yes professor?” 

“Can I ask you a favor?” Oh… she hadn’t expected the professor to ask her a favor. 

“Y...yes?” She hadn’t meant it to come off as a question.

“Haaaaaah don’t worry dear, I’m not actually mad at you nor do I dislike you if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

“Ho…”

“How did I know? I apologize, I tend to be a bit more judgemental when girls hang around my son.” 

Well, Pyrrha hadn’t expected their mother to be that overprotective, then again apparently Jaune was the only son amongst eight kids so she supposed she could understand.

“He’s had some issues with… well I’ll let him tell you later if they decide to. Either way, I’m sorry I came off as antagonistic.”

“It’s alright, I can understand I think.” Right, well she wasn’t sure why she’d said that.

“Hahah, right it’s fine. I was just going to ask if you can keep an eye on him okay? He can be… he can get into this really bad mindset. I’ve tried to help him before, but well…” She paused in an attempt to find the right words for the situation. “I don’t think he’ll listen to anyone in the family… at least not anymore.” 

“What… what do you mean?”

“Hmm lemme see…” She took a moment before she started speaking once more, “what if you were told over and over by the same people that you were good? That you weren’t just a blemish? Even when you felt like you weren’t progressing, even when others kept on putting you down? Do you think you could believe your family, or would you think they’re only telling you what they think you want to hear?” 

Pyrrha wanted to say something, but then she thought about her early days, about the struggles she went through to get better. “I… yeah I can see where you're coming from. I suppose he doesn’t really take your compliments to heart then?”

“Unfortunately no. That’s where the favor comes in, would you be so kind to knock some sense into that boy of mine?”

...

“Excuse me?” She’d never had anyone actively tell her to basically beat their own child.

“He won’t accept help so easily, but I’ve seen you fight and I do mean I’ve seen you fight.” The woman’s knowing smile sent a shiver down Pyrrha’s spine.

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t mention it to anyone, it’s your secret. I was just wondering if you could help… train him up. Obviously my approach hadn’t been the best, nor any of his sisters. We would unconsciously hold back… but if it’s you? I feel like you’d be able to really knock some sense in him.”

“... Can I think about it?”

“Of course dear. I’m not trying to pressure you into anything, if you don’t want to that’s perfectly fine.” This time, the smile she sent at Pyrrha felt less frightening. 

“Thank you.” 

“No problem, and thank you for listening. Now I do believe that my kids and the others are waiting out there for you.” 

As Pyrrha started to make her way out she paused, “Oh and Pyrrha, thank you for being his partner, and if you ever need anything feel free to ask me alright?” 

“I… thank you.” 

As she exited the classroom she was suddenly talked by two missiles, one pink and one red. “PYRRHA! What took you so long! We need fooooood!” Nora’s stomach loudly grumbled loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear it.

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Selene Sokal for proof reading!

Jaune stared at his lunch absentmindedly, it’d been a few days since the Cardin incident and he had thought everything would have gotten better. He should have really known better. Instead of smoothing over, things had gotten far worse. Cardin’s crew hadn’t bothered getting physical with him, but instead opted for a more roundabout approach. They’d started leaving notes here and there, scribbling on his locker, throwing insults when they didn’t think the others were listening. 

He just sort of took it, it bothered him, it frustrated him, but it wasn’t something that would have any real lasting effect on him. At least it shouldn’t have anyways. He’d done his best not to show any change in his demeanor, not for Cardin’s group but for his friends. He didn’t need to worry them, didn’t need them to get in trouble on his account. He knew they’d actually break Cardin’s legs if they found out, he knew they’d end up. And while that’d be really amusing, he didn’t want them to well get in trouble for it.

Unfortunately though, the hits to his emotional and mental state had been getting worse and worse. So keeping up the act had become far more difficult than he’d like to admit. “Jaune…”

Turning towards his partner he found her emerald eyes peering into his soul. “Yeah Pyr?”

“Jaune… you know you can talk to us right?” 

It was then he noticed that all of his friends had been looking at him, all of them except Weiss whose attention was on her food. 

“I…” He really couldn’t lie anymore, “No… sorry I’m not.” 

“Jaune… we need to talk.” Pyrrha turned towards the rest of her group, specifically his sisters. “Just the two of us.” 

They obviously took offense to that and wanted to say something, but she’d apparently given them a look that caused them to stand down. He really didn’t like where this was going, he didn’t like putting his emotions out there… on purpose anyways. 

The conversation died when they heard someone crying out in pain. “Ow! Stop please!” 

“Those freaking jerks!” Joan stood up instantly, she hated when people picked on others, and seeing as how Cardin was getting physical with that second year she wasn’t going to take it sitting down.

Everyone stood up along with her, Jaune himself was surprised at how quickly he’d gotten up all things considered. At least, he thought everyone stood up, “Weiss? You’re not coming along?”

All eyes fell onto the pale girl, “No… no I will not. You… you all can’t just… she should be able to handle it herself. She shouldn’t need our help as she's a second year. You’d just make her look bad anyways, and if she can’t help herself then maybe she deserves it…” 

“SERIOUSLY!?” Yang’s voice caused everyone in the cafeteria to suddenly stop. “She deserves it?! The hell Weiss that’s messed up thinking!” 

“Look, I’m just saying… she’s a huntsman she came to this school to get stronger. She should be able to stand on her own. She shouldn’t need us barging in for her, and if she can’t do that on her own then maybe she doesn’t need our help…” 

Yang looked as if she was about to go off before Nora cut in, “Alrighty! That’s enough of that! Why don’t we cool down, we’re all friends here!”

“But we’re not… I’m not any of your friends, I don’t know why you’d think that… I don’t know why any of you would even think that...” Despite the haughty attitude, there was an obvious tone of sorrow in her voice. One that Joan picked up on, though by the looks of it so did Nora. And with that the Heiress took her leave, not waiting for anyone to even try to stop her. 

“That self entitled little brat!” Joan was surprised at how upset Yang had gotten. He hadn’t seen her that get that mad ever!

“We’re… we’re her friends right?” Ruby’s meek voice pulled everyone's attention to her. 

Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, now that theft thought about it, they hadn’t really interacted with Weiss since they’d gotten there. She was always prim and proper, almost like she didn’t want to belong with them. 

“Joan?” Joan turned towards Nora who had walked up to her, “Can you talk to her please? I’m not the best when it comes to handling emotional things… and as embarrassing as it is you’re probably the closest to her out of all of us.” 

Joan simply nodded her head, “Yeah… yeah I will… but… but we do need to see about including her more. I can kind of see where she’s coming from.”

Everyone nodded except Yang, who was pouting slightly, at least till Ren placed his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure she has her reasons Yang. It’s not easy for everyone to open up.” 

The blonde girl relaxed, “I… yeah I suppose your right.” 

“Would you like to talk about it by the way?” Everyone looked at her, she obviously felt embarrassed by her outburst.

“I… maybe later… if you’d be willing to listen?”

“Of course.” 

Joan couldn’t help but think of how cute they were.

_“Psst, I’m totally onboard with that ship.”_

Nora’s soft whisper nearly caused her to jump. Though, once she got the chance to think about it she was definitely onboard with that little ship too. _“You know you’ll need to talk to her too… I think we should go together.”_

The smaller girl seemed reluctant at first before nodding. 

Though before that they needed to handle team CRDL, though looking back apparently the second year had taken the chance to scamper off after their little interruption. Cardin was glaring at them something fierce. 

“Okay… well that was taken care of I guess… we’ll have to find them later or something. Anyways… we’re going to go talk to Weiss. You guys try not to get into trouble.” Joan stared at Ruby specifically when mentioning this.

“I’m not going to do anything I swear!”

“Right well… we’re going.”

And like that both girls headed out, Pyrrha decided that this was as good of a time as ever to have a talk with Jaune. Though… she wasn’t sure how to do it, it’s not like she was great with person to person interactions after all. She only really ever fought—that summed up her entire life. 

And just like that she realized the best way for them to actually talk. “Follow me…” 

“Wha!?” He didn’t get the chance to really react as she pulled him along. 

“Welp… what now?” Ruby was at a loss at what to do now that her entire team was gone.

“We eat.” Was all Ren gave her.

“Oh okay!” 

When the duo finally made it to Pyrrha’s choice of destination Jaune found himself to be utterly winded. “Hah… hah… okay… okay why are we here exactly?” Here was in the training room, which thankfully was empty all things considered.

“We’re here because we’re going to talk, now let’s get our gear!” 

“Wait what?”

“Go get your gear Jaune.” Pyrrha made sure to give him a warm smile, one that told him he should actually get to it they didn't have all day.

Once the boy himself headed off she too made her way towards the women's locker room. Returning after a few minutes she was threaded in full gear and ready for action.

Jaune himself had returned shortly before her, as she approached him she took the time to note his figure. He was well toned and quite muscular, it showed how much effort he put into becoming stronger and how he’s definitely worked out. His figure was also more of an athletic build unlike his sister who was more of a lifting build. His toned muscles and lithe body were impressive, he was smaller than some of her previous competitors, but well that wasn’t a bad thing. Her face grew hot as she realized what she was currently doing. Snapping her attention back she continued drawing closer.

“So… what did you want to talk about?” 

“I wanted to talk about your combat problem.”

She watched him flinch at her words, this was going to be far more difficult than she’d anticipated. 

“I… I don’t have a problem.”

“Jaune… It’s… I’ve seen you hesitate when you’ve tried to strike someone.” 

Once more he winced at her attention to detail. “I uh… guess I can’t really get anything past you huh?”

“No… well maybe. Either way, from what I’ve seen you’re an amazing fighter! I’ve seen you analyze your opponents, though your fighting style is more meticulous you’re great at running down your foe. But you have trouble actually dealing a blow, why… why is that?” 

“I… I’m not great or good though… I’m just weak… just weak pathetic me!”

Pathetic? Why did he think he was pathetic or weak? That was stupid! “Why would you even think you’re weak or pathetic? So what if you’re weak?! So what if you think you’re pathetic?! None of that matters! You just need to get stronger, you need to work harder for it Jaune!”

“All I can really do is fail though. I’ve tried, I honestly have. I’ve worked so that I can improve, but… being told that you don’t belong all your life wears on you! I… I can’t match my sisters, that much should be obvious, it’s frustrating, but I do want to keep trying! I just don’t know where I can go.” He paused, his fists clenched into a fist, “besides it’s not like you could understand how it feels to fail anyways.” 

Pyrrha definitely caught that last part, she would need to talk to him about that, but for now. “What would I know about being a failure? Is that what you think? That I’m perfect? That I’m invincible?” She scoffed out that last part, “I hate that moniker, TheInvincible Girl, the undefeated! No one bothers to look up the truth, no one bothers to check on what I was like before I forced myself to be stronger, to claw myself up to the top.” Rolling down her long gloves, she showed off her muscular arms. However, what really caught Jaune’s attention was the long line of scars and gashes. “You’re not the only one who's had to work harder and harder, Jaune. I’m not invincible, I’ve fought my entire life to be as good as I am. And I damn well pushed myself to the limit. These aren’t my only scars, I’ve plenty more that I keep hidden.” 

“I know what it’s like to feel weak! I know what it’s like to constantly look up to people, to have them look down on you!” She grabbed her weapon and dashed forward without warning. She’d taken him by surprise as she jammed her shield against his chest forcing him back. In an instant she attempted to trip him, her left leg sweeping behind his right. But he countered with a splendid ukemi. His body rolling to the side before she could jam her blade through his chest. “I know what it’s like to be told you can’t do it!” 

She dashed forward again, Milo in gun form as she shot him a few times in her advance forcing him to pull up his guard. “You aren’t the only one who goes through these things!” To her surprise he pressed forward, cutting her timing off forcing her to dodge his shield smash.

“I don’t know what it’s like having so many sisters! I don’t know what it’s like having family tell you you’re great but the world says otherwise! I know I can’t get that!” The two continued to exchange blows, their shields smashing into one another. He was constantly on the defensive, but never at a disadvantage. He kept himself in position to counter attack when necessary but never fell through with it. She would bring him to his knees, knock him back, and push him away. She would get him close to the edge, nearly take him down. But he never gave an inch, he never let himself fall, he kept on coming back at her. His frustrations were driving him and she loved it!

She would attack, he would defend, she would counter attack his defense and they would repeat over and over. “Are you happy with that though?!” Her shield nearly met his face but he defended himself. “Are you?!”

“No! Of course not! I hate it! I hate it so much!” Another blow came towards him as he backed up nearly avoiding a spear to the face.

“Are you trying to prove those people wrong?! Or do you care more about how you feel?!”

Once more she pulled back, quick gun fire made its way towards him as he blocked pressing forward in advance.

“I don't know! I DON’T KNOW!” He didn’t know! He didn’t know if he wanted to be happy, or if he was doing it to please other people.

“You should know! You shouldn’t have to rely on what others are telling you or saying about you!” 

“I know! I know! I know I shouldn’t care, I know that I should only care about how I feel! But it hurts! It hurts to always be looked down upon!” To his surprise in his frustration he actually struck with his blade. In his confusion she blocked it, he didn’t miss the smile on her face.

“Are you happy with feeling like you can’t get anywhere?!”

“GGN!! NO! No I’m not!” Finally he spoke, he’d been there, taking her attacks, and blocking her. Preventing her from being able to even land a blow despite her flurry of attacks. 

“Good! Then don’t let them! What matters is how you feel! You’re not a coward! You’re not a weakling!” She jumped back putting distance between the two. In that moment she prepared herself, Jaune came flying after her, a flash of dust erupting from behind his shield. With a slight movement she moved to the side, behind her shield she made a distinct hand movement. In a brief instant Jaune veered to the wrong side sending him crashing out to the ground in a quick stumble. He caught himself before he slid out of the ring, despite the incident despite feeling outclassed he got back up. 

“How can you even say that?!”

“Because a coward and a weakling wouldn’t get back up after that. Because you wouldn’t fight your preconceived destiny! Like I said I’ve been there, I’ve clawed my way to the top despite the naysayers, and I know you have too. I know you’ve tried over and over, our scars are proof of that! So I know Jaune, I know how it feels. So your sisters are talented? So you can’t compete with them? Who cares!”

She knew he wanted to say that he did, but she didn’t let him. “You know who you need to compete with?! With yourself!”

“What?” His dumbfounded face, covered in sweat and confusion was oddly adorable. 

“The you of today wouldn’t lose to the you of yesterday. That’s what you need to do, keep going forward, who cares if it’s not at your sisters pace! Who cares if you can’t strike someone with your sword? There is more to that! The shield is a mighty weapon! And you know what?!”

“What?” He’d calmed down, he wasn’t yelling, he wasn’t in his frantic messed up mindset now. 

A ding set off, “That was 30 minutes Jaune… you lasted 30 minutes in a fight with Pyrrha Nikos, the 4 time Mistral Champion. There are very few that can do that.” Her smile was genuine, her pride was in full bloom, but not just in herself but in Jaune, her partner.

“I pushed you harder and harder, little by little, and you kept up with me. Even if I brought you to your knees you kept on getting back up.” 

She let her words sink in, he finally smiled, “I… huh wow…” 

“You’re not a loser by the way.”

He felt his bottled up emotions gather in his chest, the feeling of pride from the words of another filled him. “Thank you.”

“I don’t care what those actual losers in class say. You keep on trying and keep on improving. And you know what? It may not mean much coming from your family, from your sisters, from your mom. But I’m not them, I know you have a ton of potential, so how bout it?”

His eyebrow popped up as he stared at her in confusion. “You want to train together? I could use a training partner that could keep up with me.” 

She let him take the time to think, but to her surprise it was very little time, “Yes… please… if you’re willing to take your time to help me out. I would love to accept your help.”

And it was at this moment that both broke out into laughter, their emotional high finally wearing off as they relaxed, “Excellent! Though… ready for round two?”

“Round two?” 

“Yep, I’m going to show you a side of me that the tournaments don’t get to see.” She made sure to eye all the openings, made sure the doors were shut tight and there was no one else in. “Let's take our positions.” 

  
  


Jaune wasn’t sure how he felt about this, he was honestly a little tired. Pyrrha was insane, there was no one quite as aggressive as her in combat. Her flurry of attacks had taken quite a bit of brain power to process. But he did as he was told, he… okay if he was being honest he wanted to see this. He wouldn’t admit it, but he’d been watching her tournament recordings recently… not cause she was really pretty and super awesome while fighting. No it was never that… right, well he’d seen how she fought and honestly it helped him deal with her previously. Though he was incredibly curious about her ‘true’ fighting style. He was about to ask her when her demeanor changed.

Jaune felt a shiver run down his spine as his previously domestic partner now felt like a feral beast on the prowl. Fear clutched his chest as she slowly circled him, he flinched here and there when random bullets would clip against his aura. He knew she was testing him, checking to see what made him, he didn’t like this. Before he could properly reposition himself however, he felt another shot, this time aimed at the fingers gripping his blade. He nearly dropped his sword in response. And that was all she needed.

He failed to notice the black aura surrounding her metal boots, in a flash she was upon him. In response he attempted to position his shield between them, only for a black aura to force it down. Using his own aura to over power hers he managed to regain control, only for her left leg to curl behind the metal piece. With great force applied to her own gear, she stomped down, dragging his body with it. In an instant he felt her knee slam into his jaw, his brain jumbling within his skull as he reeled backwards. Before he could even think about regaining his momentum, he felt her move again. Gingerly she stepped upon his shield and used it to reposition around him. Her thigh roped around the back of his head as her thigh slipped between his jaw and around his neck, as her right leg pressed against his chest. In a moment he felt a tremendous weight press down, all of his armor was now used against him to lock his body into place.

He tried to fight her, tried to move, but he felt her semblance pressing him to the ground. He was locked in his own gear slowly losing oxygen as his world started to fade to black. 

“AH!” His eyes shot open, how long had he been out? What had even happened? 

“Hello again!” Slowly he felt his face grow hot as he realized his current position, laying on one of the benches in the training room, his head placed gently on Pyrrha’s lap. He tried getting up, but he felt Pyrrha’s hand on his chest, “You don’t want to move too fast so soon.” 

He could feel his heartbeat in his ears, his pulse grew rapid. “Wha… wh… what happened?!” Despite his flustered demeanor he couldn’t help but ask what she’d done.

“Aura’s great and everything, but like your mother said, there are alternate means of getting around it. I just… happened to take advantage of that.” She was practically beaming. 

“Wh… where did you learn to fight like that?! That wasn’t in any of the reco…” He paused as he realized he’d accidentally let his little secret slip. He was practically a tomato by this point, her knowing smirk didn’t help. 

“Oh? Did someone look into me? See anything you like?” A lot honestly, but he wasn’t going to admit that. He wasn’t going to let her teasing get to him, not now!

“I… I thought it would be good to know how my teammates fight. I… I already know how Ruby and Joan fight, so I…”

He felt his anxiety wane as soft giggles escaped her lips. “I’m just playing with you, though… let’s just say I’ve done more than ‘tournament’ fighting. There are some… not so public places one can learn to fight. And well… I was under a lot of stress, it helped to unwind.”

The realization hit him like a ton of breaks, so she took part in those kinds of tournaments. “How…”

“How did no one know? Well I’m quite good at disguises if I say so myself.”

He simply nodded in agreement, not wanting to push the subject further. “So what now?”

“Well for now we’ll rest up, then we can work out a training regiment. We’ll show those punks just how strong our partner duo is. Because believe me, you are worthy, you know? You’re the best partner I could have asked for.” She paused, realizing how vain that sounded, “And don’t worry what anyone else has to say. You don’t have to be worthy of being my partner. This is an equal relationship.” Her face grew hot at her own statement. “I mean… you know what… yeah. We can handle things together alright?”

He took a moment, staring at her emerald eyes from his position on her lap. This was nice, it was… it was really nice having someone talk to. He knew he had plenty of problems, that there were other things he needed to work out. But having Pyrrha with him? That… that felt good. “Thank you.”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s no problem! It’s no problem… just if you ever need to talk… if there are more things that you need an outside party for. I’m here for you alright?” 

He hummed to himself, “That sounds grand. Just… the same to you okay? I’m here for you too.”

Her soft giggle was music to his ears, “That sounds splendid. Thank you.”

And like that he was back to being crimson again, “Do… do you mind if we stay like this a bit longer?” 

Embarrassment hit him harder as he realized what he asked for. “Sure, I think you earned the rest.” A genuine and warm smile crept upon her face as her hands slipped through his ruffled hair. As she began to hum, he felt a few of his worries wash away. He wasn’t a loser, he… he knew he could do things with his partner by his side, this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Hey Jerry?”

“Yeah Tom?” 

“You excited about retirement?” 

“Heck yeah I am! How bout you though? You ready to propose to that girlfriend of yours?” 

“Yeah… I’m just nervous is all.”

“Don’t worry man you got this.” 

Today was going to be a great day for these two dust shop guards! Everything was going to go fine, there wasn’t going to be any attacks, and the shipment would be delivered without a problem. 

And then the power in their side of town went out.

“What? What’s going on!?” 

“I dunno Jerry, but I’ll go check the breaker, you hold on alright?” 

“Yeah… just be careful Tom.”

“Pfft, what’s the worst that can happen?”

Unfortunately for Jerry, this would be the last time he ever saw his friend. Unknown to the two, amber eyes watched them silently, the unknown figure had slipped in during the initial chaos. 

The feminine figure watched as the two guards separated, her target already clear in mind she followed Tom into the power room. _SCHLICK_

“Tom? Tom are you there?” It had been several minutes and Jerry’s long-time best friend had yet to return. “Tom? This isn’t funny man, where are you at?” When he received no response he pulled out his gun, slowly he trailed after his best friend. 

**_Drip drip drip_ **

“The heck is that sound?” His body froze when he felt a warm liquid drip onto his face, as he pressed his fingers against it confusion hit him. It was too sticky to be water, but it wasn’t really that much thicker. Bringing it close to his nose he gave it a solid smell, the scent of iron. 

It took him a few seconds but his blood ran cold as his gaze fell upwards. In the light of the moon he could make out the hanging body of his best friend, a black ribbon holding his dead form to the ceiling. Before he could screen he felt a hand wrap around his mouth. “Shh, it’ll be over now.” 

He had no time to react to the cruel voice, as the amber eyes kept their focus on him, in an instant his world went black. _SCHLICK._

And like that, a black blade ran through his neck, slicing his jugular. The small hand kept to his mouth, keeping him from screaming in pain as the life force drained from his body. Once he fell limp the black figure pulled back. Releasing a breath she didn’t know she was holding she felt relief at the completion of the job. 

“Get the dust, and let's get out of here.” In an instant several men in black and white uniforms, with a three scarred wolf embedded on their clothing and grimm like masks rushed in. 

Finally as the moon’s light cast upon the lone female figure she took the time to relax. Her golden eyes peered at the fallen guards, only a moment of guilt passed through her as she moved on. Adorning a full face mask, one of red and white, she moved forward vanishing into the darkness. She had other jobs she needed to complete before the night was over.


End file.
